Shadows of the Leaf
by Senka Hitomi
Summary: Konoha is settling back into everyday life after the conclusion of the Fourth Shinobi War, but Ino is finding it to be quite unlike what she anticipated. As everyone moves on, will Ino be caught in the shadows of the past?
1. Lily

Weaving wreaths was a more difficult art than one might think. Initially, it was all about picking the correct flowers and branches. Stems had to be supple, but not weak; petals needed to be blooming, but not fully open, so that when they were displayed for sale, they were at the peak of perfection.

There was an art to choosing colors as well. Bright colors had to be enhanced with softer, neutral tones. Just the right type of greenery was used to complement certain colors: fresh, spring green was used for pale pinks and yellow, dark ivy greens for creamy white and crimson.

Tempered by years of experience in her parents' shop, Ino had brought the art to a whole new level. Her fingers weaved deftly through rows, forming a circle of branches and leaves arranged to perfection. This morning's selection was lilies, with tiny clusters of baby's breath around the edges. Normally she would hum a little as she worked, but today she let the silence penetrate the garden. Even the gentlest of breezes didn't stir the shrubs and trees.

"Ino dear?" The rumbling voice of Inoichi Yamanaka floated down the pathway, followed by his imposing figure ducking around the corner of the garden path. "Are you out here?"

"Over here, daddy!" She called, putting the wreath aside to smile warmly at her father. The blond-haired man returned the smile gently, moving the wreath to take a seat next to his daughter on the bench.

Ino fought a grimace as her father sat down painstakingly slowly. He tried not to let it show, but she could see the lines of pain in his face. An injury sustained from the war had crippled him slightly. As the head of the intelligence squad, it simply meant that he wouldn't be doing much fieldwork; knowing the Hokage, it would do very little to affect his career, a fact for which Ino couldn't be more glad… yet it still pained her to see the man that had been her idol since she was just a child be subjected to such hurt.

She took the wreath out of his hands, pausing for a moment to admire the marked similarity of their fingers. Hers had once been smooth, treated with lotion and moisturizer to counteract the adverse effects of kunoichi training, but the older she got, the less she paid attention to vain things like that.

Now, her hands were covered in calluses and scars; not nearly as many as her father's, she noted with a little inward chuckle, but enough to prove that she'd seen her share of battles.

Ino must have spent too long in thought, because her father waved a hand below her chin to get her attention. She looked up, slightly startled.

"Hmm?"

Inoichi chuckled, releasing his hold on the wreath. "What's the matter, little one? You seem preoccupied today."

Ino smiled softly, a chuckle bubbling up in her throat. "Not so little anymore, daddy. And I'm fine. Just feeling thoughtful today, that's all."

She went back to weaving, then held her work out to examine it from a distance. "It's missing something. What do you think?"

Ino turned to her father, holding it out to him again.

"Hmm…" He turned it around in his hands, then his face contorted strangely.

"What is it?" Ino bit her lip. That kind of look from her father was never followed by anything good. "Am I losing my touch?"

"No…" Inoichi began slowly, lowering the wreath and turning to look at his daughter quizzically. "… but this looks like a wedding wreath. Your mother didn't say anything about supplying flowers for a wedding using those arrangements."

"Oh dear…" Now that Ino examined it more closely, the sinking realization of what her father had seen came into full view. The wreath was entirely white, and the ribbon she had wrapped around her wrist was one of ivory silk… the kind they used solely for wedding arrangements.

"Ino." The tone of her father's voice had suddenly become terrifyingly solemn.

"Daddy?"

"Is there something you need to tell me?"

Ino almost choked. "Daddy, no! What would you think…"

"Because you know," he continued in a tone that was gentle, yet still managed to maintain a threatening air to it, "I would be proud of any child of my precious daughter's, but if there's some low-life scum who thinks he can get away with getting _my_ daughter pregnant—"

"_Daddy!_" Ino truly wasn't sure whether to burst out laughing or scream at the horror of what he was insinuating. "Daddy, I'm not engaged and I'm _not _pregnant."

"Oh…" Inoichi let out an enormous sigh of relief, lowering his face into his hands. "Thank goodness."

"Daddy, you know me better than that." She smiled to herself a little. "Besides, you think I could keep something like _that_ a secret from you and Mom? Really, daddy, you're getting a little irrational."

Inoichi looked up at her a little sheepishly, which only served to broaden her grin. Ino was probably the only one, aside from her mother, who ever received such a look from the great Inoichi Yamanaka.

"Perhaps, a little…" he conceded.

Ino held out her arms, and her father handed the wreath back to her. They sat in silence for a few moments, with Ino continuing to weave baby's breath into the wreath and Inoichi staring at his hands.

As she folded each flower into its proper place, Ino could feel an uneasiness building in her gut. Perhaps this wasn't just a coincidence…

"Daddy?"

"What is it, dear?"

"I do have something I want to talk to you about." She laid the wreath on the ground next to the bench, shifting to face her father.

Now that she had begun to address the situation, nervousness got the best of her. Ino touched her earrings almost instinctively. Even now, with almost a year gone since his death, the sorrow of her sensei's passing sometimes felt as fresh as though it were yesterday.

"Daddy… I think it's time for me to start facing my responsibility to the clan… and as such… Well, I know it's kind of tradition for marriages to be arranged in our family. You and Mom got married when she was only 16, and I'm nearly eighteen. I think it might be time to start considering my marriage."

Inoichi sat back, the puzzlement showing through clearly on his face. He raised a hand to Ino's forehead, then lowered it.

"No fever… dear, what's brought this on?"

Ino opened her mouth, but she found herself at a loss for words. How could she honestly explain to her father the complexity of the situation in which she now found herself?

It was true enough that she wanted to take on more responsibility within the clan; the last battle with Asuma in the Fourth Shinobi War had taught her that much. She was an adult now, a kunoichi who had seen the horrors of war and lived to tell about it.

Even her comrades were moving on with their lives. Sakura had been named head of the Konoha Hospital and rumor had it that she was soon to be engaged to a certain savior of Konoha… actually, Ino considered wryly, it wasn't just a rumor, considering that the pink-haired kunoichi had been about to burst with the news when she came to visit three days ago. Quite honestly, Ino was ecstatic for her best friend, but it was also a loss of sorts. She couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of nostalgia for the days when they had competed for Sasuke at the academy and poked fun at one another like children were wont to do.

Choji had already accepted his role with the Akimichi clan. Even despite the fact that Choza had sustained few injuries during the war, he had already pre-determined that Choji was ready to take on the task of becoming clan head. Choji had been reluctant at first, but with a little bit of pep talk from his team –and quite a bit of barbecue—he had decided it was time to step up to the task before him. The announcement of his impending marriage had arrived not even a week later. Which, Ino remembered, she had to shop for a dress for soon and find a date… She stopped herself. Well, maybe not the second. She was sure that the only person she truly wanted to go with probably already had a date so what good was it to…

_No._ She corrected herself. _I'm not going down that road again._

And of course, there was the future of the other member of her team. Ino's gut clenched up at the thought. Truth be told, she hadn't even spoken to the lazy Nara boy in what felt like ages. Even at the dinner with Choji, it had been mostly just the cursory small talk between them that she expected from someone like Kiba or Lee… not from Shikamaru.

Maybe they were just growing apart. After all, Shikamaru was one of the Hokage's most trusted advisors. And that didn't even take into consideration the fact that Shikamaru was constantly gone on diplomatic missions to Suna…

_Diplomatic missions my ass. _A small voice in the back of her head chimed. _Everyone knows he's just going there to see that tra—_

"Ino dear, are you sure you're alright? You look like you're about to burst into tears. Maybe we need to take you to see someone over at the hospital. You're not acting like yourself." The feel of her father's hand on her shoulder brought Ino back to reality.

"Huh? Oh…" She shook her head as if that would clear away the unpleasant thoughts that had settled over her. "No, I'm just fine, daddy, honestly. It's just been such an adjustment these last few weeks. I'm seeing all of my friends moving on and becoming adults…"

She finally found some confidence in her voice and managed a smile that could have charmed the coldest of hearts. "I just don't want to be left behind."

Ino stood, brushing stray leaves and flower petals from her skirts. "As for looking teary-eyed, I think I've just spent too long with all these flowers. The pollen is getting to me, but I think I'm going to take a break for a while. Sakura wanted to meet me for lunch today, so I have to go get cleaned up. Can't let her look better than me!"

Ino grinned, skipping over to lean down and kiss her father on the crown of his head. "I love you, daddy. I'll see you at dinner tonight!"

With that, she scampered off into the house, doing her best not to let her cares reflect in her eyes.

Inoichi watched his daughter go, frowning slightly.

"Oh, Ino dear. You think your old man can't see when something's wrong, but I know there's more behind this than what you're telling me…"

Inoichi shook his head, standing gingerly to take a circuit around the garden path. Yes, there was some deeper layer to this sudden decision, but he hadn't been made the Head of Intelligence for no reason.

He'd find out what it was soon enough, one way or another, but he thought he might have an idea of what this was about. Ino, as good as she had become at hiding her emotions, still couldn't hide everything from the man who had raised her.

Inoichi stop decidedly, looking over toward the forests that formed the border of the Nara estate. Perhaps it was time to pay a little visit to his old friend Shikaku…

* * *

><p><em>AN: Hello everyone! If you've read Stuck in the Clouds, you're probably well aware of how much I adore the ShikaIno pairing. :) I came up with the concept for this story about two weeks ago after the chapter with InoShikaCho's last battle with Asuma was published. It occurred to me to wonder what Ino might think about the "taking responsibility for the clan" aspect of the story, and it blossomed into a ShikaIno. This will be a multi-chapter fic (Gah, I can't believe I'm starting another one!) so be on the lookout for updates. I'll try to be prompt. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!_

- Senka Hitomi


	2. Lilac

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Neither does anyone with whom I am affiliated. But you could probably figure that one out without my assistance..._

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><p>Sakura's eyes were shining; she gestured vividly as she talked, entirely ignoring the tea in front of her. At one point, she almost knocked the cup over, causing Ino to scramble to keep it from cascading off the table. Sakura just carried on, however, oblivious to the almost-accident.<p>

"So, when do you think he's planning to ask you?" Ino interjected, making Sakura pause for the first time in their conversation. Ino took a sip of her tea, smiling slightly at her friend over the rim of the cup.

Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it again, her hands closing tightly around her own cup of tea. Her face went from pure excitement to worry within seconds.

"He's on an A-rank mission right now. He's been gone for two weeks and he's supposed to be back in two days, but… I don't really know if that's accurate or not."

Ino tried to hide the small frown that settled over her features. She hadn't intended to make Sakura worry with that question.

"Sakura, this _is_ Naruto we're talking about." Ino said laughingly, taking a nervous sip of her tea. "Don't worry. He may be an idiot at times, but he knows what he's doing. He can take care of himself."

Seeing the worry in Sakura's face begin to ease, Ino continued. "And before you know it, he's going to be back here, sweeping you off your feet."

Sakura's cheeks turned slightly pink and her features relaxed again. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am!" Ino grinned confidently. "But in the meantime, we have to find you something to wear on your next date. When he comes back, he won't even know what hit him."

Sakura laughed, looking down at her somewhat bedraggled hospital uniform. "I suppose this isn't very impressive, is it?"

Ino was silent, letting her look of skepticism answer the question for her.

The teahouse was relatively quiet for a Friday afternoon. Most days, it was packed around this time with people who had just finished their shift at the hospital, but there had been few patients in the last week or so; consequently, the hospital needed far fewer people on every shift.

Today, only three tables were filled. Sakura and Ino sat at a table near the window in the front of the building. A young couple occupied a booth in the back corner of the room. _Probably too lost in one another's eyes to even realize where they are_, Ino thought morosely. The last table was taken up by two old men who were more concerned with their game of Shogi than the cups of tea in front of them.

Ino watched for the last table for a moment. Both men sat with their hands folded in front of them, staring intensely at the board. She couldn't tell whose turn it was, or even who was winning. Ino had never been very good at Shogi; she had once tried to get Shikamaru to explain it to her, but he was too lazy to bother or perhaps he had been busy running errands for the Hokage... she didn't really remember anymore. She had even asked Asuma-sensei to teach her at one point, but he must have forgotten, because he had never gotten around to it.

After watching the men sit motionless for a few more moments, Ino turned away. What did it matter if she didn't know how to play a stupid game like Shogi anyway? Not like it would ever do her any good.

"Ino?" Sakura set her cup down in front of her, her face once again concerned. "Is everything okay? You look upset."

"Hmm?" Ino quickly pushed away the resentment which had apparently made its way onto her face, adopting a look of confusion instead. "Oh, I was just thinking about how miserable the state of my closet is right now. I don't think I have anything at all that I would even consider wearing to Choji's wedding."

Ino's redirection of the conversation was apparently successful. "Oh, I'd almost forgotten about that! I'm not sure if I have anything either. We'll look for something when we shop."

Ino nodded. "That's what I was thinking. I'd hate to embarrass Choji on the most important day of his life."

Sakura chuckled a little. "Have you met his fiancée yet? I don't know much about her."

"Only once," Ino shrugged; the girl had been pretty, but very quiet, so she couldn't form much of an opinion. More importantly though, Choji had seemed to be head over heels for her. "Her name is Mai. She seems nice enough and Choji… well, he's being his typical self. When I met her for the first time, he was so nervous he could barely get her name out right."

Ino smiled softly, clearly recalling the memory of her bumbling teammate as he stumbled over his words, only to blush profusely when his fiancée laid a reassuring hand on his arm. She wasn't sure she had ever seen him so happy. "I think he's really in love with her."

Sakura returned her smile. "So, are you ready to go? Knowing how picky you are, Ino-pig, we'll spend all day looking for the perfect dress just to come back to the first store we looked at."

The pink-haired girl grinned teasingly and Ino stuck her tongue out. "Of course I'm ready. Of course, I'm sure we'll spend half the time looking for something big enough to fit over your billboard brow."

The two girls glared at one another for a moment, but Ino found that it was far too hard to keep a straight face. Sakura's mock-seriousness began to slip around the same time as Ino's, and both girls were reduced to a fit of giggles.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>Ino frowned at her reflection in the mirror. Sakura might have been teasing, but her claims did have some grounds. Despite how much she generally loved shopping, she had recently been getting more and more selective in her choices, never finding anything that satisfied her.<p>

Just like the dress she had on now. It was simple, a spring green that made her eyes look twice as bright with a hem that came to just above the knee. The wedding reception would be fairly informal, so it wasn't outside of the dress appropriate, and it fit her well enough, but… Ino sighed. It just wasn't right.

She walked out of the dressing room, spinning around once.

Sakura nodded enthusiastically. "That one is really pretty, Ino! Perfect for a spring wedding too and…"

Sakura paused, her face falling to a look of skepticism and exasperation. "You don't like it, do you?"

Ino grimaced slightly, twisting a bit of the fabric between her fingers. "Well, it's not exactly…"

She stopped herself, smoothing the fabric back into place. What good would qualifying do? "Not really, no. I don't know what it is, there's just something about it…"

"Try the next one. Maybe you'll like it better?" Sakura supplied hopefully.

Ino stepped back into the dressing room, pulling the next dress off the hanger. Hopefully, this would be the one.

It was quite a contrast to the previous one; this dress was lilac with sheer sleeves that flowed around the shoulders. The skirt drifted out from the waist line down to about mid-calf, almost as though it were floating. Small flowering designs lined the sash at the waist, making it pretty without being ostentatious.

Ino smiled slightly despite herself. This one was truly lovely. Perhaps they wouldn't have to spend _all_ day shopping…

"Sakura, I think I may have found—"

Ino stopped at the edge of the doorway. The seat next to Sakura, which had been previously unoccupied, was now filled. Both Sakura and the newcomer looked up at Ino. Sakura's face broke out in a grin immediately.

"If you don't like that one, Ino, you're crazy."

Ino had all but forgotten about the dress.

"Hey, Ino."

Shikamaru waved a hand lazily, his passive expression showing no hint of the thousands of calculations that Ino was sure were running through his head every hour of the day.

It took a few seconds for her brain to even process what to say. An incredulous "What are you doing here?" was the eventual result.

Shikamaru smirked a little, motioning to a dress bag that was lying across the other seat. "Apparently I've become the Hokage's errand boy for today. She was too lazy to go pick up her own dress for Choji's wedding, so she sent me to get it instead."

Sakura's expression was slightly uncertain as she jumped in to help with the explanation. "When Shikamaru saw me here, he stopped to say hello. I told him to stay for a little while… I thought maybe if I could get someone else's opinion you might be convinced to buy at least _one_ of those dresses."

Sakura's explanation at least gave Ino enough time to compose herself. She chuckled a little, moving to the mirror so she could see the dress better.

"I'm not sure that Shikamaru's going to be much help where that's concerned. As long as I've known him, I'm fairly certain that he wouldn't know a dress worth wearing to a wedding from a hole in the ground."

From her vantage point at the mirror, Ino saw Shikamaru frown slightly. She felt a small thrill at having gotten through to him on some level, but it left a bitter taste in her mouth all the same.

The frown didn't last, however. "And by that, she means that no powers in the Five Nations will change Ino's mind about a dress if she doesn't like it."

Sakura giggled. "Isn't that the truth! We've been here for practically an hour and she's gone through at least five dresses that would have been perfectly fine, but _someone_ didn't like them."

Ino spun around, putting her hands on her hips. "You _were _the one who volunteered to go with me, after all. And besides, I may be picky, but at least I'll look nice at the wedding."

She motioned to the dress she had on, trying to ignore the clenching feeling in her stomach that having Shikamaru's eyes on her gave her. "So, what do you think?"

Sakura's eyes widened for a moment. "You mean you actually like the dress? If you're even considering it, I think it's great."

Ino sighed, turning to face Shikamaru. "And you, since your opinion has apparently been solicited?"

As Shikamaru studied her, Ino could swear that time had frozen. Nothing was divulged by his appraisal, and it infuriated her. If he would just show _something_, disapproval or otherwise… but that calm exterior drove her insane.

It hadn't always been like this. In times past, she had just passed it off as him being typical Shikamaru, the lazy genius who showed about as much emotion as a tea kettle. It was only recently that she had begun to crave something more than his typical indifference; for him to show some sign of admiration or just simple recognition of her…

"Well, in my opinion, it looks fine, but I wouldn't know a dress from a hole in the ground."

His sardonic smirk was enough to set her over the edge. She wheeled back around, practically stomping into the dressing room.

"Oh, you're no help! Don't you have any more errands to go and run?"

She slammed the door, pressing her back against the wall and covering her face with her hands. She bit her lip to the keep the sobs from coming out, but she couldn't stop the slow, warm tears that began to stream through her hands.

* * *

><p>The Nara house was simple and organized, impeccably clean under the iron-fisted authority of Yoshino Nara.<p>

The formidable housewife smiled as she set a tea kettle and two cups on the dining room table.

"Here we are. The finest brew Konoha has to offer. I'll be gone to the market for a little while, but there's more in the kitchen if you'd like it."

Yoshino kissed her husband on the cheek, then shot him an ice-cold warning glare. "And if I come back to find a speck of it on my nice, clean furniture…"

Shikaku smiled wanly. "We'll be careful, dear."

Inoichi held in his laughter until at least thirty seconds after the door closed, then he let it fly full throttle.

"Your wife sure is something, Shikaku."

Shikaku nodded reluctantly. "That she is. But you can't help who you fall in love with."

"True enough…" Inoichi frowned; that statement brought him back to the original reason for his visit. "Well, old friend, I'll get right down to it. Have you noticed your son acting strangely recently?"

Shikaku rubbed at his beard thoughtfully. "Not especially, but I see so little of Shikamaru nowadays that it's often hard to tell. He's always on some errand for the Hokage, and if he's not doing that, he's on a diplomatic mission to Suna. I swear, I sometimes wonder how the boy has time to be as lazy as he is with such a schedule…"

Shikaku's eyes narrowed, and he studied Inoichi with interest. "Why do you ask, Inoichi? It's something with your daughter, isn't it?"

Inoichi nodded, pouring himself a cup of tea. Before he could respond to the question fully, Shikaku's eyes went wide, and his fist slammed down on the table.

"Don't tell me that boy's gone and done something so asinine as to…"

Inoichi laughed at the rare display of emotion from his friend. "No, no. Nothing like that... at least I don't think so. When I was talking with Ino earlier today, she…"

He stopped himself, attempting to act as though he hadn't jumped to the exact same irrational conclusion hours earlier. "Well, I would know if that was the case. I am her father, after all. But no, your son is not about to start the next generation of shinobi."

Shikaku relaxed noticeably. "I didn't think Shikamaru would do something foolhardy, but you can never tell with kids these days. Especially as rarely as I see him.

"Well, if that's not the case, then what's wrong? I haven't seen much of my own son, but I've seen even less of him around your daughter since the end of the war…"

Shikaku stopped, reaching the conclusion before Inoichi had time to supply it to him. "Come to think of it, I've hardly seen her at all. Did something happen? I know it's certainly not a severance in the bonds of Ino-Shika-Cho. Shikamaru's been at the Akimichi's practically more than he's been home, what with the wedding coming up."

"As has Ino." Inoichi agreed. "She's overseeing the floral arrangements, so she's been at the Akimichi's at least once or twice a week."

He shook his head, swirling the cup of tea in his hand. "I don't know what's happened between the two of them, but Kami forgive me if I'm not going to do whatever's within my power to find out what's wrong with my little girl."

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><p><em>AN: Well, here it is. The product of my blood, sweat and tears, forged from hours of writing without food, water or sleep... okay, so I'm only kidding. :) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I want to especially thank Wings-chan, sad little monkey, DolceNana, indigo yamanaka, and aki-child for your lovely reviews, as well all of those who have added alerts for this little fic. I appreciate it greatly and I hope you all continue to enjoy my story! Read, leave your thoughts if you would like, and happy reading! _

_- Senka_


	3. Daisies

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru, or even anything remotely related. Alas, I must express my love for Kishimoto-sensei's work in the form of fanfiction..._

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><p>"Dinner?" Ino stopped at the door, examining her father questioningly. "What do you mean, dinner?"<p>

Inoichi folded his arms, regarding his daughter with a mix of skepticism and amusement.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten already. It's traditional, in any head family wedding of the Akimichi's, for the Nara's to host a dinner a week before. And I, for one, do not want to be the one to take the brunt of Yoshino's ire if we show up late."

Ino's mouth closed into a delicate "oh" of realization. In the midst of the tumult of this afternoon, dinner had completely slipped her mind. Grabbing her bags from where she had dropped them by the door, she dashed past her father, calling over her shoulder as she rushed up the stairs: "Be ready in just a few minutes!"

Tossing her bags haphazardly on the bed, she rummaged through her closet with an expert eye.

"No… not that one… no, no, no… ah!" She finally closed her fingers around the one she wanted, pulling it off the hanger and out the door into her bathroom. She changed as quickly as possible and pulled her hair out of the messy ponytail it had been in all day, running a brush through it in a vain attempt to get out a few of the snares. Normally, she kept her hair perfectly maintained, but in her rush to meet Sakura for lunch, she had barely even given it consideration.

"Ino, we need to be leaving now!" Her father's voice rumbled up the stairs and Ino moved even more quickly to put herself together.

"Coming!" Throwing the brush aside, she didn't even bother to tie her hair back, letting it float out around her shoulders as she rushed down the hallway. As she passed the front room, she grabbed a bouquet of daisies tied with a ribbon from the top of the end table. She had prepared it earlier to sell in the shop, but with no other gift for the hostess, this would have to do.

"Ready?" Inoichi gave his daughter an amused grin, gesturing to the door.

"Sorry." Ino scrunched her nose as she followed her father out the door. Inoichi locked the door behind them and they set out down the road toward the Nara residence.

"But honestly, Daddy," Ino continued as they walked, "you can't expect me to be ready so quickly."

"Of course…" she thought, muttering to herself, "…not like I have anyone to impress."

"What was that?" Inoichi looked at his daughter out of the corner of his eye.

"I said I couldn't even find the right dress!" Ino corrected, frowning decidedly at her father. "You men, you just don't understand how difficult it can be to figure out what to wear for functions like this."

Inoichi raised his eyebrows, but decided it was better just to say nothing. After having had this argument with his wife multiple times, he certainly knew better than to get into it with his daughter.

As if she had been inside his head, Ino abruptly changed the subject. "Wasn't Mom supposed to come?"

Inoichi shrugged. "Your mother was feeling a little under the weather and didn't want to risk getting anyone sick right before the wedding. You know how she is."

As they traveled, their conversation wandered to other subjects, and Ino found herself genuinely laughing and smiling. It seemed to be a unique quality of her father's; he had an uncanny way of being able to put her at ease, no matter what the situation.

It was particularly strange in this situation… she might as well be walking into the metaphorical lion's den after what had happened this afternoon.

They reached the Nara residence far sooner than Ino anticipated. She straightened out her dress as her father knocked on the door, running her fingers through the last few knots in her hair in an attempt to smooth it out.

"Hello, Inoichi, come in!"

Yoshino beamed at the two of them, ushering them through the door.

Ino stopped at the door, holding the daisies out for Mrs. Nara. "We brought these, if you'd like to decorate with them. I'm not sure if you like daisies, but I thought they would be festive."

The older woman beamed, resting a hand on Ino's shoulder as they surveyed the room. "I'm sure I can find a place to put them! What a sweet thought! And Ino, dear, you're looking lovely as usual. I'm sure Shikamaru will be delighted that you're here. You haven't been around much lately, and I'm sure he missed seeing you."

Apparently he hadn't mentioned their little encounter today. That stung more than it should, Ino considered reluctantly. But, perhaps it was all for the best.

"Thank you, Mrs. Nara. The house looks lovely and whatever you're cooking smells wonderful. Is there anything I can do to help prepare?"

Yoshino thought for a moment, smiling down at the flowers in her hand, but she finally just shook her head. "I don't think so, dear."

She paused, her eyes lighting up for a moment. "Actually…"

Yoshino scanned the room, her hawk eyes finally lighting on what she was looking for. "Aha! There he is. If you'd really like to help, Shikamaru's outside setting up the lanterns."

She lowered her voice, leaning in toward Ino conspiratorially. "He's the only one in the house who knows how to light them properly, but he doesn't have a clue how to place them. Poor child… he inherited his father's decorating skill, I'm afraid."

Ino stifled a giggle. "Yes, ma'am. I'll go and help, if you'd like me to."

Yoshino nodded satisfactorily. "Thank you, dear. And don't be afraid to tell him off. That boy needs a firm hand to keep him in line!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Ino wound her way through the room, squeezing past the various Akimichi relatives who were congregated around the central room. She hadn't seen Choji on her way in, though; normally, she would have been able to find him lurking around the kitchen, but since his engagement, he'd dropped about 10 pounds from sheer nervousness. She couldn't remember a time when he had been so nervous, but it was almost endearing in a way.

Ino slid the back door open, shutting it behind her as she stepped carefully onto the grounds of the Nara estate. Most of the land they owned was open countryside or spacious woods; the former was the ideal setting for an outdoor evening party.

When she first spotted him, Shikamaru's back was turned to her; he was crouched on one of the lower branches of one of the trees nearest the house, looping a string of lanterns securely around the branch.

Ino watched for a moment with interest as he tried and failed to hang it a proper length away from the previous strand.

"It needs to be about two inches from the right." Ino noted, folding her arms as she stood back to judge the distance.

Shikamaru looked up at her, his face a mask of annoyance and frustration. "Would you like to come and do this instead?"

Ino backed up and narrowed her eyes. "I was just offering advice. Sorry. I'll go back and tell your mother you didn't want my help."

With that, she spun on her heel back toward the house.

"Whoa, whoa, wait." Ino waited for the thump as Shikamaru landed on the ground below the tree. "Don't go telling my mother that I sent you off. She'll just give me an earful after the party and then I won't hear the end of it, especially if I don't put those lanterns up properly."

Ino paused, drumming her fingers against her arm. "If you don't want me to help, I'll go find something else to do. I won't tell your mother."

Ino waited for a few moments for a response. She couldn't see if Shikamaru was moving, but the light from the lantern began to wave back and forth gently, so she assumed he was adjusting it again. He continued to give no response.

Ino couldn't help but chide herself for being so naïve. After that little display of anger from her this afternoon, she couldn't really expect him to be warm and welcoming.

Like Shikamaru was _ever_ warm and welcoming…

"Are you gonna help me or not?" Ino turned to find Shikamaru back up in the tree, holding the end of the rope. "Can you loop this over to the other side?"

Ino walked over to the tree, starting a bit as the end of the rope fell into her hands. She looked at it for a moment, then stared back up at Shikamaru skeptically.

"Shikamaru… I'm in a _dress_. And you expect me to be climbing _trees_?"

Shikamaru looked at her plaintively, as though she had just asked him why trees grew up toward the sky instead of down.

"It's never stopped you before."

Grudgingly, Ino had to admit that much was true. Even when she had been younger, she couldn't resist a challenge, dress or no dress. Holding her skirt against her side with one hand, she concentrated chakra to her feet and walked up to the branch opposite the one Shikamaru currently rested on. Balancing carefully, she pulled the string of lanterns across between the two branches, adjusting it so it was even with the string above it.

Satisfied with her work, she sat delicately on the branch smirking over at Shikamaru.

"And that is how you hang lanterns."

Shikamaru jumped back down from his perch and backed up to look at the arrangement. He frowned, which Ino took to mean she had done her job –or rather, _his_ job— well.

"Ha." She folded her arms smugly, waving one finger at the display. "You know it's just like your mother said, your decorative—"

A strong gust of wind chose that moment to thrust its way through the branches, rattling them like mere leaves in the face of an oncoming storm.

Ino put a hand out to balance herself, but she missed the support of the trunk by a few inches and she could feel herself tipping off balance. Before she could even begin to recover her equilibrium, she had tumbled over backward and was plunging toward the ground at an alarming rate. She pushed chakra to the edge of her hands and feet, bracing herself for the sudden impact with the ground…

…but it never came.

Two strong arms seemed to materialize beneath her, one around her back and the other supporting her knees. Still, the force of Ino's chakra release made her savior stumble backwards a step.

Ino herself was still off balance, so in order to steady herself from tipping over backwards and start tumbling right back to the ground, Ino was forced to wrap her arm around his shoulders.

At that moment, she suddenly became very aware of the fact that he was holding her.

For a split second, nothing moved. Her sea-green eyes, still wide with the shock of falling, stared unguarded into his, dark as ebony. They were inscrutable as ever, but beneath his formal clothes, where her side pressed into his chest, she could feel his heart pounding in the same frantic rhythm as her own.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, glancing at her appraisingly. "You know, putting up lanterns is enough of a pain without having to catch women who let themselves fall out of trees."

Once again realizing that she was still in his arms, Ino struggled to get back on solid ground, putting a bit of distance between the two of them.

_Too much, too close._

"I would have caught myself without your interference, thank you very much!" She muttered, smoothing the wrinkles out of her dress and trying to breathe deeply to calm her fluttering pulse.

"I know." Shikamaru replied, rotating his arms at the elbow with a slight grimace. "The force of that just about shook the bones out of my arms."

Ino couldn't reply, words lost to her effort to retain her composure. She hadn't been that close to him in weeks… if she were to be perfectly honest, she hadn't even spoken so much as two words to him since then, not including this afternoon's little fiasco.

But then again, their last encounter in the war had put some considerable distance between them.

"Ino." Shikamaru's voice had become serious all of a sudden, and it was enough to draw her attention away from her thoughts.

"Yes?"

Ino crossed her arms around her waist, hugging them tighter around her as she watched him. His dark eyes scanned over her face, scrutinizing every detail and processing it.

"I think we need to talk abo—"

"Shikamaru! Ino! We're about to start dinner."

"Coming, Mother!" Shikamaru called back; he sighed and put his hands in his pockets, turning to stroll back toward the house. He looked back over his shoulder at Ino when she didn't move to follow.

"You'd better come. Mom likes you, but she won't for much longer if you're late for dinner."

Ino nodded slowly and followed at a distance, completely numb to anything except the feel over the wind over her skin.

_The first time he'd attempted to talk in weeks, and it happens at the least opportune moment. _Ino suppressed an inward sigh and plastered a smile on her face.

_For now, it will just have to wait. _

* * *

><p><em>AN: A little fluff there, I think. And a bit of a hint about the situation that put Ino into this state of distress... Next scene, the dinner! Hope you all enjoyed. As usual, I thank you for reading/reviewing/favoriting/alerting and all those other lovely things. Leave your thoughts, if you would be so kind. _


	4. Hyacinth

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. That is all._

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><p>Dinner passed by smoothly enough. Ino ate as much as she could stomach, then made polite conversation with some of Choji's cousins while everyone else finished dinner.<p>

Shikamaru was seated at the far end of the table, sandwiched between his mother and father as the hosts of the party. Ino tried to keep her gaze focused on the plate in front of her, but occasionally, she could feel her gaze slipping over to the other side of the room.

_What had he been about to say?_

She let that thought carry her through the rest of the meal, but by the end, she had no more of an answer than she had been able to discover at the beginning.

With dinner concluded, most of the guests moved outside, but Ino stayed behind to help Mrs. Nara clean. The rhythmic clink of the plates was almost enough to wash a little of the worry out of her mind. Perhaps she _had_ been overreacting. It was only natural that Shikamaru might want to talk, though why he had waited so long, she truly couldn't even guess at.

But regardless, images of what he might want to discuss played across her thoughts.

_Her vision was blurred from overuse of chakra and her legs swayed uneasily under her weight, but she still managed to remain upright. She used her left hand to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun on the horizon; beyond the blur, dark shapes moved with slow, measured steps. She couldn't see well enough to discern any identity from the figures. It was too soon to tell, too soon to hope…_

_There. There just at the edge, she saw a familiar shock of spiky, jet-black hair. He moved toward her in a slow, hobbling fashion. _

'_He's injured…' she realized, her eyes adjusting enough to see that he was favoring his leg, the same one that had been broken only a few months before in the invasion of Konoha. _

_But he was _alive_._

"_Ino?" _

"Ino?"

Ino almost dropped the plates in surprise. "Yes?"

Mrs. Nara set down the dishes she had just been clearing. "Is everything alright?"

Ino could have smacked herself. How had she been stupid enough to zone out in the presence of Mrs. Nara? She was a nice woman, but if she thought something might concern her son, she wouldn't stop until she figured out what it was and Ino had had quite enough of inquiring parents today.

"Oh, everything is fine. I was just thinking about the old days." Ino smiled wistfully, clearing up the last of the china and moving it to the sink. "It's still kind of strange to me that Choji is getting married."

Mrs. Nara smiled knowingly. "You think it's strange for you? I've known you and Choji since you were just infants. It just doesn't seem possible that my little boy and his friends are old enough to be starting families of their own."

Ino blanched at that thought.

_Just imagine a little Choji running around… or even worse… a little Shikamaru! _

Mrs. Nara chuckled. "Not that I'm sure that lazy boy of mine ever will get married. It seemed for a while like he might have an interest in that Temari of the Sand…"

Ino bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep herself from making a remark. Fortunately, Mrs. Nara didn't seem inclined to continue, so Ino simply continued cleaning, wishing she could clear those thoughts from her mind like residue from a plate.

Mrs. Nara stacked the last of the dishes and wiped her hands on her apron. She smiled approvingly at Ino.

"If only he could find someone as kind as you, dear. I appreciate all of your help today."

Ino managed to return the smile and give a brief "you're welcome", but only that. She didn't trust herself to say anything more over the lump that was forming in her throat.

Mrs. Nara motioned outside. "Well, now that everything is cleared away, care to go join the festivities?"

Ino nodded, ignoring the plummeting feeling in her stomach. "Sure."

* * *

><p>The Akimichi clan had no shortage of stories to tell about Choji, and an hour later, Ino had laughed so much that it made her stomach hurt, almost enough to forget the tears from earlier in the day. Her father, on the other hand, sat at her side with a pained and distant look on his face; occasionally, he glanced around, as though searching for something.<p>

"Daddy…" Ino said quietly.

Inoichi looked over at her; his expression went blank, showing none of the pain that she had seen just mere moments before. "What is it, dear?"

Ino kept her voice at a level only her father would be able to hear. "You need to get home to take your medicine."

She knew how he felt about his injury. Despite the fact that Inoichi did his best to hide his pain from his wife and daughter, Ino knew that it was more than simply the physical pain of the injury that got to him – it was a matter of pride. Her father detested the idea of looking weak, and nursing a permanently crippling injury only served to worsen his unvoiced fears of becoming a burden.

Consequently, that also had a tendency to mean that if he was showing even the slightest signs of his pain, what he actually felt was probably excruciating. He simply wouldn't say anything.

Inoichi frowned just slightly, sitting up all the straighter as he turned his attention back to the anecdote that Choza was relaying, as Choji sunk deeper into his embarrassment and his fiancée looked on smilingly.

"I'll be fine." Inoichi said matter of factly, but only moments later, Ino saw pure pain flash across his vision.

She stared him down skeptically. "Father. You _need_ to take your medicine. If I have to fake an illness to make you go home, I will."

Inoichi turned back to look at her, his gaze hard as a rock. "Ino…"

"Father." She met his gaze defiantly, daring him to challenge her.

"I'm not going." He muttered, crossing his arms as he turned back once more.

Ino, resisting the urge to yell at him in front of the entire party for his stubborn pig-headedness, stood before her father could protest and moved over to where Choji and his bride-to-be sat.

She couldn't help but smile at the two of them. Her long-time teammate occasionally gave a nervous sidelong glance over at the slender, pale girl at his side. She responded with an equally nervous smile, but her eyes sparkled with happiness.

Ino touched Choji's shoulder lightly and he looked up, eager for a distraction from another of his childhood stories.

Ino smiled apologetically. "I hate to leave so soon, Choji, but I'm not feeling too well. I don't want to be sick for the wedding, after all."

Choji looked up at her, nodding knowingly. "Thanks for coming, Ino."

His fiancée, Mai, gave her a smile as well, one which was entirely genuine. "It was nice to see you again, Ino."

Ino returned the smile. This really was the kind of girl Choji deserved. "You as well, Mai. I'll see you at the wedding!"

As soon as she had spoken to Choji's mother and Mrs. Nara again to inform them of her leave-taking and thank them for the invitation, Ino walked back to her father. She rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I told them I wasn't feeling well. We can go now."

Her father gave her an irritated look, but said nothing to argue and stood, waving to Choza and Shikaku on his way out.

Inoichi didn't speak on the way back home. Ino followed him in silence, not daring to say anything that might further provoke his anger. Of course now, she thought wryly, she would rather have him yell than deal with this awful silence.

She looked sadly at his back.

_I only did it to help him…_

When they got back home, her father walked to the back of the house without saying a word.

Ino stood in the main room for a few moments more, waiting to see if his anger would cool and he would return to at least tell her goodnight. A few moments passed, and then a few more.

He didn't return.

Wearily, Ino trudged up the stairs, each step precise and measured. Now that she was home, there was no need to hurry. She paused at the top of the stairs, to listen a moment longer. No sound echoed up from below.

She held a sigh in until she had reached her room and shut the door, then she let it slowly slip out, barely filling the silent room.

Despite her earlier rush, her room remained orderly. She moved her shopping bags off of her bed and into the closet and almost sat down, then remembered the brush she had tossed aside earlier. She moved it to the dresser, pausing as she noted that the hyacinths she had been tending for the past few weeks were beginning to look a little dry. Grabbing a spray bottle from her bathroom, she misted water over them, admiring the delicate purple-hued blossoms.

She couldn't quite remember now why it was that she had chosen these particular flowers. Every now and then, she would pick a small group of flowers to cultivate and bring them to her room, watching their growth until they reached the proper size to be sold in arrangements.

But these… she really didn't know why they had these. They generally didn't keep hyacinths around the shop; they were pretty, but difficult to incorporate into arrangements, so she couldn't imagine why her mother might have purchased these.

Leaning closer, Ino remembered her own reason for picking them. The closer you got, the more you could detect their wonderful scent, one that overwhelmed the senses in rapture. She took a moment to inhale it, but then stepped away.

She had suddenly remembered something else about hyacinths.

_They are beautiful, maybe,_ she mused,_ but their true meaning is no more than games and rashness._

Not even bothering to change, Ino crawled into bed, drawing the sheet up around her shoulders.

Maybe, at least, tomorrow would be better.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I'd like to start this out by saying thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all my wonderful reviewers. Fifteen reviews over three chapters... That may not be much to some people, but for me, it is astounding and wonderful and I couldn't be happier about it. It's a joy to know that someone is enjoying my work. In any case, I hope I continue to meet your expectations and I hope you all enjoy the new chapter! :)_

_- Senka Hitomi_


	5. Dandelion

_Disclaimer: I don't own Blea... oh wait, wrong series. Only jesting. Seriously, don't own Naruto. (I think you all may have figured this out by now...)_

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><p><em>Tap. Tap. Tap. <em>

Ino rolled over groggily, pulling her pillow over her ears to drown out the sound of what she could only assume was rain.

_Tap tap tap._

The noise became more insistent and Ino felt herself being pulled rapidly from the confines of dreams. She wrapped the sheets more tightly around herself, willing her mind to go back to rest and that annoying sound to subside and leave her to drift back off to sleep, restless as it had been.

Finally, the noise stopped. She relaxed a little, letting the pillow slip back down to rest beneath her head, feeling her consciousness slowly slipping away again…

…only to be shot with a sudden rush of adrenaline as she heard the latch on her window rattle.

Her hand went immediately to the nightstand beside her bed, her fingers closing around a kunai she kept in the top drawer, just in case. She sat up slowly, her breath shallow and measured.

The window was on the opposite side of her room, far enough from the bed that she could slip over to that side of the room without being seen by anyone who might be attempting to get into the window. She moved out of bed and crept along the wall, pausing to listen as she got a few inches from the sill.

"Hey… Ino. Wake up."

That made her pause. That sounded like…

She took the few extra steps to the window and threw it open, startling the person just outside to the point that he almost lost his chakra hold and fell off the wall. Ino crossed her arms, the kunai waving dangerously in her hand.

"Do you know what time it is?"

Shikamaru frowned slightly. "I'm aware of how late, yes, but I need your help. It's about Choji."

Immediately, Ino's whole demeanor changed. She opened the window the rest of the way and motioned for Shikamaru to come in, shutting it quietly behind him. "What's going on?"

Shikamaru stuck his hands in his pockets and Ino, with her back turned to shut the window, failed to notice the appraising look her gave the room in which he now found himself. "It started after the party tonight. He's been nervous all week and I'm not sure if he ate much of anything at the dinner, so I suggested we go to that place Asuma always used to take us afterwards. At first, he wouldn't eat anything, but then he just kept ordering…" The dark-haired shinobi grimaced rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Ino stared at him flatly. "Don't tell me you woke me up in the middle of the night because you couldn't foot the bill."

"No, no, nothing like that." Shikamaru continued. "I took care of that, but he overate. Made himself sick and he won't let me take him to the hospital. He's too embarrassed. I would have gone to find Sakura, but I don't know where she'd be at this hour and it'd be too troublesome to ask her anyway…"

Ino wasn't really listening as he trailed off, already rummaging through her closet for the supplies she had on hand.

"Why in the world does he do this to himself?" She muttered, pulling out different vials and rolls of bandages, only a few of which she needed. Unsuccessful in locating the necessary supplies, she moved back out into the main room with her medic bag, only to find Shikamaru examining the plant on her dresser.

"What are you doing?"

"Just looking at the flower…" He shook his head as if to clear away some stray thoughts. "You ready to go?"

Ino examined her room once over, wondering if she had any of the supplies somewhere else, but she couldn't recall it, so she moved toward the door, motioning for him to follow. "Almost. I'll have to stop by the garden and the kitchen on the way out to pick up a few supplies, but—"

She stopped abruptly as she reached the door and found Shikamaru's hand closed around the handle. She suddenly found herself awake enough to realize that she was alone, with Shikamaru, in her room. She wasn't sure he had ever been here… maybe when they were kids, but certainly not in recent years. His proximity sent a tiny shiver down her spine.

"Are you sure going out that way is the best idea?" His look of skepticism gave his own response to that question quite clearly.

Ino shrugged nonchalantly, removing his hand from the handle with practiced ease, despite the fact that she could feel her heart pounding.

"No one in my house will be up at this hour. I'd rather go out that way than try to scale the wall in a dress."

"Besides, even if my father did catch us," she added with a wry smile, "it's you. He won't think anything of it."

The truth in that statement left an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

><p>The walk to Choji's house wasn't a long one. All the windows were dark when they got there, however, so they were forced to sneak in through the window.<p>

Choji was lying over on his side, whimpering weakly.

Ino shook her head, setting her supplies out on the floor, and Shikamaru stepped back, unable to help.

She pulled a vial out of her bag, shaking it slightly before uncorking it and holding it out for Choji to see.

"This should help relieve some of the pain. It will probably be a little bitter, but it will help eventually."

Choji held a hand out to take it, but a spasm of pain overtook him and he curled back up into a ball, groaning.

Ino sighed, retracting her hand. "Can you try to sit up? This is not going to go down well if you can't."

Choji nodded slowly, uncurling himself and moving slowly to sit up. Shikamaru moved around to help him, propping him back against the wall. Ino brought the vial to his mouth, making him tilt his head back so that he didn't choke on the bitter medicine.

Ino went back to her bag, pulling out a few other containers while Choji slowly felt the pain recede from his gut. After a few moments, he let out a quiet sigh of relief, his face no longer clenched in pain.

"Thanks, Ino." He intoned quietly, too ashamed to raise his head and look at her.

"Baka." She muttered without conviction. "You don't need to be eating yourself to death right before your wedding! What would Mai think?"

Choji's head sunk even lower. "She'd probably just think I'm a… well, she'd think just what everyone else thinks."

Ino paused in her search for the proper herb, placing the jar in her hand on the ground and moving to kneel right in front of Choji.

"Choji, look at me this instant. You want to know what Mai thinks of you? I'll tell you. I know these kinds of things, because when it comes to the men they love, girls are all just the same." Ino stared him down until he looked up, meeting her gaze with reluctance. Shikamaru remained frozen in the corner of the small room, expression inscrutable.

"That girl is absolutely, one hundred percent in love with you, Choji. You can see it in the way she looks at you, the way she blushes when you get up the courage to take her hand. Does she laugh at things that shouldn't be funny?"

Choji nodded slowly.

"Does she fidget when you talk? Play with her hair or wring her hands? Is she understanding when you get tongue-tied? For goodness' sake, Choji, the girl sat through an entire evening of embarrassing stories from your childhood and she still looked like the happiest person in the world when I came to tell you all goodbye this evening."

Choji's facial expression shifted slightly, as though he wasn't sure whether he should be smiling or not, but Ino could see the slow realization hitting him as he thought back on the things she had just said.

"So you mean all of those things…"

"She _loves_ you, Choji. She wouldn't be acting that way if she didn't. She's shy, so she won't be brash about admitting like someone like me, but she's in love. And she won't want her fiancé to be making himself sick so close to your wedding, so don't do this again!"

She turned back to her medical supplies, pulling out the last vial she had handled. Inside was finely chopped dandelion root.

"Put some of this in your food for the next few days, it should help prevent any residual heartburn. Other than that, don't gorge yourself and you'll be just fine. Got it?"

Choji took it from her, examining it with a tired smile. "Thanks, Ino. I owe you one."

She let a small sigh slip between her teeth, scooping the unused medicines back into her bag. "Just keep yourself healthy, and you don't owe me anything. Consider this a favor for Mai, if anything."

Ino rubbed her eyes, feeling her weariness wash over her as the initial adrenaline rush wore off. She glanced at the clock. _1:36._

"I've got to get back home." She said slinging her bag over her shoulder and standing up. "If you need anything else, just send Shikamaru to come and get me, but preferably at during an hour that I'll actually be awake…"

"I'll be fine." Choji insisted. "He shouldn't have to hang around taking care of me anyway. You should walk her home, Shikamaru."

Ino looked at Choji skeptically as she moved to the window. "I think I can take care of myself."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Che. It's troublesome, but I was the one who dragged you all the way out here. Might as well make sure you make it back home. See you, Choji."

He climbed out the window before Ino even had the chance to protest, so she had no choice but to follow him.

"I would've been perfectly fine on my own, you know." She noted as she caught up to him, matching his leisurely pace. He seemed to not even take notice of her statement, staring up at the stars as he walked.

Ino watched him out of the corner of her eye, not for the first time wondering what was running through his head. If she could only get one tiny little glimpse… maybe then she would know what to do.

"_Ino?"_

_She rushed to his side faster than she could even begin to process the situation. _

"_What did you do, baka? I told you time and time again to _stay off_ this leg, but do you ever listen? Of course not! Heaven forbid I know more than Konoha's genius because—"_

"_Ino!" He grimaced in pain, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out. "Can you shut up for just a minute and let me talk? Troublesome woman…" _

"_I'm troublesome?" She cried indignantly; if he hadn't already been in pain, she would have been very tempted to slap the arrogance right out of him. "I'm trying to help you."_

"_I don't need your help at the moment." He snapped back, attempting to adjust his leg so he could shift the weight away from it. _

_Ino sent him a cold glare. "Fine. Have fun getting back to the medical tents on your own."_

_She began to walk away from him, putting just the right amount of anger into her step. _

_3… 2…_

"_Ino!" The pain was palpable in his voice. "I didn't mean it, you troublesome…"_

"_What now?" She half-turned back to face him. _

_He made a face that spoke of utter resignation. "Please, Ino."_

_She shook her head, walking back to his side and looping his arm around her shoulders to support him. "You should just be glad I'm a forgiving person."_

_Shikamaru snorted indelicately, grinning at her wryly. "I'll believe that when I see it."_

"Ino!" She was startled out of her reverie as she was jerked sideways and narrowly missed crashing into a bench. Unfortunately, the force of the sudden jerk sent her crashing into something else entirely.

Shikamaru stumbled as she rammed straight into him, spinning her slightly to keep from being thrown off balance. Ino's hands braced against his chest for support, and he gave her a look of utter bewilderment as they came to a stop.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you wanted me to save you. That's the second time today."

Ino flushed, pushing herself away from him quickly. "I'm just tired. It's two in the morning; I have a right to be a little out of it."

Shikamaru stopped in the middle of the street, studying her.

"What?" She resisted the reflex to wrap her arms around herself self-consciously.

"You're lying. You're even still wearing what you wore to the dinner. Something's wrong."

Ino looked down, remembering her apathy upon arriving home. She hadn't bothered to put her hair up or even brush it, much less change clothes.

"Like I said, I was tired. I didn't think much about changing."

Shikamaru looked dissatisfied, but he shrugged it off, continuing to walk. "Fine. If you're not going to explain, I'm not going to go to the trouble of trying to figure it out."

True to his word, Shikamaru spent the rest of their walk in silence. When they reached her house, he stopped, still not bothering to look at her as he spoke.

"Thanks for helping Choji. I know he appreciates it."

"Yeah, no problem." Ino replied tersely, brushing past him to the door. If he was going to act this way, she could be just as brusque. She had put the key in the lock when a hand touched her shoulder lightly.

"Ino."

Her hand dropped away from the lock, and she took a deep breath, blinking slowly before turning back around.

"Yes?"

Shikamaru was all seriousness, staring straight through her with that penetrating gaze of his.

"Honestly, thank you. What you said to Choji… I'm no good with any of that and her opinion been his main worry all along. You said exactly what he needed to hear."

Ino felt a small smile breaking across her face. "I just don't want to see him so worked up when there's no need to be."

"Well, it's… thanks."

Ino nodded slowly, and just like that her anger was receding to a warm glow of affection again. She bit her lip. "No problem."

"And Ino?"

"Hmm?" She looked up, trying her best to keep her face free of emotion. As tired as she was, she wasn't sure how much control she could keep over it.

"You really need to get more sleep."

She frowned, stepping back from him huffily. "You know something, you mm—"

Ino was forced to stop abruptly; his hand was covering her mouth.

His mouth stayed in a perfectly straight line, but his dark eyes sparkled with mirth.

"And you talk too much, even when you're tired. And if you would give me just a second more to get a word in edgewise, I would say you should wear your hair down more often, troublesome woman. It looks nice."

He took a step back and put his hands in his pockets, raising an eyebrow. "But what would I know? If I wouldn't know a dress from a hole in the ground…"

Shikamaru left the statement unfinished and retreated into the night, easily blending with the shadows that he so easily manipulated.

_Not the only thing he easily manipulated. _Ino put a hand over her mouth.

If she hadn't been certain of her wakefulness, she would have sworn it was all a dream.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I am so so so terribly sorry for the late update. I've been drowning in schoolwork and extracurriculars, but that is no excuse. So here it is; hopefully the length makes up for my woefully bad timing. Once again, thank you to those who review. It never ceases to make me smile. I hope I am continuing to uphold your expectations. And, if you are feeling particularly generous after reading this, I always love more reviews. :) - Senka_


	6. Rhododendron

Ino pushed breakfast around on her plate, staring distantly at the blank kitchen wall. The house was quiet, not even the cacophonous chirps of birdsong from the open window drifting in to break the silence. Her father and mother weren't awake yet; that wasn't unusual for a weekend, but it didn't make the house feel any less empty.

Having the house virtually to herself left Ino alone with her thoughts, which was always a dangerous proposition, particularly considering the events that had transpired less than twenty-four hours ago.

He had complimented her. He had _actually _complimented her: stood there, right outside her front door and grinned at her and told her to be quiet and _complimented _her. And then he was gone just as mysteriously, leaving her hanging on the same thread from which she had been suspended for weeks and no less sure of where they stood.

_If only he had just reacted differently back then!_ She thought fiercely. _If he had said something, but no, the stoic genius remains ever inscrutable. _

Though, there were moments …

"_Oi, Ino, pay attention for Kami's sake!" Shikamaru grimaced in pain, struggling weakly to shift his knee away from her. _

_Ino wasn't about to stand for that. Despite his determination to get away, she kept a firm hold on his knee, pinning his calf to the ground. "If you'd stop struggling, it wouldn't hurt nearly as much, baka. Now hold still! I have to set it."_

_Shikamaru's eyes went wide for a moment, then narrowed back to small slits. "Ino, you—"_

_His protest was interrupted by the sharp crack of bone being reset. _

_Shikamaru's face went sheet-white, but he gave no cry of pain. _

"_Better?" Ino sat back and crossed her arms, drumming her fingers impatiently against her bicep. The smile of challenge on her face was met by a reluctant scowl. _

"_Che."_

"_Thought so." _

"_Troublesome." Shikamaru attempted to move again. "Well, if you're done—"_

"_Not so fast." Ino held her hands out over the injured leg and gradually the area around it began to glow with a chakra exchange._

"_This won't heal it completely," Ino intoned quietly. "But I need to at least make sure the chakra connections are strong if you're determined to be walking on it right after it's been set."_

_After a few moments, she withdrew her hands, standing to inspect it as the chakra flow faded. _

"_There. Now you can go do whatever you please and completely disregard my advice. But you can find yourself another medical-nin to take care of it when you undo everything I did to heal it." _

_Shikamaru lifted himself gingerly, testing the leg. When he took a step forward, it held his weight; if she hadn't known better, Ino would have sworn she saw a look of surprise cross his face. _

"_Yeah, yeah. As if I'd do something as troublesome as all that."_

"_You think I'm kidding? Just try to come crawling back to me, see where it gets you. And you know what I'll say at your funeral? 'I told that baka a hundred times to stay off that leg, but the genius knew too much—"_

"_I'll see you later, Ino." He mumbled something after that, but by that time, he was turned away and Ino couldn't quite catch it, though it sounded suspiciously like "meddlesome woman." _

_She huffed, turning away from him. Mostly it was out of sheer frustration, but a small part of her just simply didn't want to see her teammate walking into what could be a death-sentence. At least… that was what she told herself._

"_Nara-san! Yamanaka-san!" _

_Both of them turned as a breathless young shinobi ran toward them, his round face red with exertion. _

"_They sent me to find you right away! Naruto-kun succeeded! Uchiha Madara is dead." _

_Ino blinked, unsure if she had just heard that correctly._

_Seeing twin looks of disbelief on their faces, the boy continued, holding out a scroll addressed to Shikamaru in his father's script. _

"_There's the official report, if you don't believe me." He grinned as he dropped it into Shikamaru's waiting hand. _

"_The war is over."_

A grunt from the hallway served as notice that her father had just entered the kitchen. Ino buried the memories again, watching as he shuffled over to the cabinet above the sink.

"Good morning, daddy."

After yesterday, Ino couldn't be sure how he would react. Her father was not much of a morning person regardless, particularly when he had gone to bed irritable.

Surprisingly though, he patted her head gently as he set his teacup on the table. "Good morning, Ino dear."

Ino set down her fork, no longer even making the pretense of trying to eat.

"Daddy, I'm s—"

"Ino, I should—"

They both stopped and Inoichi was the first to crack a smile.

"My stubborn daughter can't even let her old man get a word in edgewise, eh?" He took a seat at the table, folding his hands around the empty cup.

Ino smiled mischievously. "Only because she takes after her pig-headed father."

The rest of their breakfast was consumed in silence, but Ino knew that all that was necessary had already been said. When she left an hour later for the Akimichi's to pick up the list to finalize the floral arrangements, her step was considerably lighter than it had been the previous night.

* * *

><p>"The tulips are all arranged and the rest will be here by Thursday evening. They have to be kept cool, but not too cold…" Ino scanned over the list in front of her, checking off each of the orders. After picking up the list, she'd brought it back to the shop and now she found herself hovering like an insect around in circles, checking blossoms, monitoring water… everything would have to be perfect.<p>

She paused at the last arrangement; she had almost walked by it without noticing, but after taking a second glance, something was certainly amiss.

She picked up the vase to inspect it. The roses were in good condition, just on the peak of flawlessness. Everything around them seemed to complement the roses nicely, but…

_Aha._ She identified the source of the problem, pulling out a small cluster of white flowers near the base of the arrangement.

_Rhododendron?_ If her mother had been at the shop this morning, she would have questioned her instead, but as it was, Ino was at a loss. No one in the shop would _ever _put rhododendron in a bouquet like this. To think that someone would…

"—just got here, in fact. I told him I didn't need to leave this early, but I would swear that he made me go just to get me out of his hair. Yeesh. You'd think he thought I was his mother, not his sister—"

The vase slipped in Ino's hands. She caught it before it could spill to the floor, but it set her off balance and she slammed into the side of the table, rattling the window terribly.

_That voice…_

A voice from outside abruptly stopped, then echoed into the shop. "Is everything okay? It sounded like an explosive tag just went off in there."

Ino steadied herself, setting the vase back on the table and brushing off her apron. She shook her head.

_It couldn't be. _

"Hello?"

A spiky, dirty-blonde head poked around the doorway. The woman to whom it belonged grinned almost wickedly when she saw Ino.

"Should've known it'd be you. Long time no see, Yamanaka."

Ino found herself at a loss for words. And here she had been thinking things might be on a turn for the better.

But instead, fate had decided to play with her head one more time.

The visitor who now stood in her doorway was none other than Temari of the Sand.

* * *

><p>"How could he? How could he march around here and act like that and insult me and compliment me and then expect me to be <em>okay<em> with this?"

Sakura held up her hands, attempting to corral her friend into a chair or, at the very least, make her stop pacing and yelling at such an alarming rate.

"Ino, what's wrong? I can't understand half of what you're saying."

"I can't believe him. I simply cannot believe… I thought there was some hope! His mother said he was through with her and he hadn't been on a diplomatic mission in weeks, but there she was, marching right through my door, as I'm covered in dirt and sweat and probably looked like a complete slob!"

"Ino!" Sakura grabbed ahold of the hysterical blonde's shoulders, shoving her down into a chair. The sudden force was at least enough to stop Ino's ranting. When she looked up at Sakura, her eyes were brimming with tears.

"I'm such an idiot, Sakura."

Sakura pulled a chair up close to Ino's, holding out a handkerchief to her friend. The sheer use of her actual name rather than "billboard brow" was a cause for concern.

"You're not an idiot. Start from the beginning and tell me what happened."

Ino blew her nose loudly and inhaled shakily, ending in a hiccough that verged on being a sob. "I don't even know where to begin…"

She looked down at the handkerchief in her hands pathetically. She couldn't even summon up the courage to look her best friend in the eye as the words escaped her mouth.

"Sakura, I think I'm in love with him."

Sakura's expression went abruptly from concern to confusion. "In love with who, Ino? You don't mean—"

Suddenly, her jaw went slack.

"Oh, Ino… you don't mean…"

Ino gave a watery giggle, shaking her head sadly. "I told you, I'm an idiot. Especially with him. Though I suppose that shouldn't come as a surprise…"

"Ino, why didn't you tell me?" Sakura's voice rose slightly and Ino could have sworn that she heard the wood of the armrest on which Sakura's hand was resting crack just a tiny bit as Sakura curled her fingers around it. "When did this happen?"

"I'm—I'm not really sure, exactly." She sniffled, rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her palms and completely disregarding the handkerchief. "I didn't realize until—until—"

"Until?" Sakura prompted insistently.

Ino took a deep breath. She supposed it was about time that she recounted to Sakura the part of the memory that she hadn't been able – _couldn't have allowed herself_ – to finish previously.

"_W-what?" Ino, who was _never_ at a loss for words, found herself stumbling. _

_The messenger just grinned and ran off, shouting to some of his comrades further along. _

_Shikamaru's expression was unreadable as ever as his dark eyes scanned over the page in his hands. When the letter dropped to his side, however, he looked up at Ino with a skeptical, wry grin that bordered on the edge of joy._

"_The kid wasn't lying. My father sent this to confirm it. That baka Naruto finished him off… the war is over." _

_By the time he finished, Ino had recovered from her shock and her whole visage glowed as she broke out into a radiant smile. _

"_Shikamaru… we did it… The Allied Shinobi Forces won!" Ino laughed like a schoolgirl, delighting in the feel of laughter bubbling up in her throat._

_Completely forgetting her teammate's injured leg, she threw her arms around him in delight. The force from her sudden outburst was enough to send him sprawling backwards; he was forced to spin her to keep from doing just that, but he didn't let go of her even as he regained his balance. _

"_Troublesome woman." He muttered, letting out a soft derisive snort. "Aren't you the one who told me not to strain my leg? Then you do something troublesome like trying to tackle me." _

_Ino didn't even bother to reprimand him; she could see in his eyes that the remonstration was only half-hearted anyway. She couldn't resist giving him a roguish smile. _

_At first, she didn't even realize that she was still in his arms, but after a few moments, it became readily apparent. In her elation, she wasn't sure what came over her. Even recalling it later, the details of precisely what happened were fuzzy at best, but she was absolutely certain of the result. _

_She kissed him. _

_She pulled his head down to meet her own and pressed her lips hard against his, letting out all the fear and euphoria and relief that had been bottled up inside her in that one embrace. She didn't even form thoughts; she only knew instinctively that it felt absolutely and perfectly right for his lips to be moving over hers as her arms wrapped firmly around his neck, pulling him as close to her as he could possibly be. She could practically feel his heart beating in synchronization with her own and she could almost swear that she felt him smile into the kiss. _

_And then rationality hit. _

"You what?" Sakura's eyes were wide as saucers, and this time Ino was certain she could see the cracks where the wood was splintering under Sakura's grip.

"It was stupid and driven purely by emotion and I want to say that it didn't mean anything but…" Ino paused, bringing her fingers up to touch her bottom lip. "… it did. I've dated a few guys…"

To say Sakura's look was skeptical was an understatement.

Ino wrinkled her nose, amending the statement. "I've dated _quite a few_ guys, and I've kissed my fair share of them, but Sakura…"

Ino shook her head disbelievingly. It was on the tip of her tongue: the feeling that she had been too afraid to voice for weeks now, the one that sat like a weight in the pit of her stomach, the one she had tried so hard to mask but which seemed to always be shining straight out of her eyes.

"… none of them were one bit like that. Just from that kiss, I realized that there is only one person I ever want to share that with, one person I could spend the rest of my life with and I'd be perfectly happy, no matter how lazy or intelligent or _troublesome_ he may be."

Sakura released her grip on the armrest slowly, resting her hands in her lap and looking at Ino with an expression Ino rarely saw. It was something like wonder.

"Ino, you need to tell him."

"I can't." Ino drew her legs up into the chair and fresh sobs bubbled their way to the surface. "That's what I was trying to tell you. After it happened, we've just kind of pretended that it didn't. I won't bring it up, because I'm too afraid he'll reject me, and he… well, I don't know what he's thinking. I thought, just maybe, because of things he did recently that he might…"

Ino clenched her hand into a fist, slamming it down onto the armrest. "But then today… I found out that _she's_ here."

"She?"

"Temari." Ino practically spat the name. "His mother was talking the other day about how she'd thought for a while that he was interested in Temari, but then she told me that he seemed to have given up on that."

"But of course, just to prove me wrong, that Sand tramp comes waltzing into my flower shop of all places this morning, saying how long it's been since we last talked and asking me if I've seen him."

Sakura frowned. "Maybe it's not what you think, Ino. She could just be here on business, or maybe Choji invited her to the wedding! If Mrs. Nara said he wasn't interested in her anymore, I wouldn't doubt one bit that she knows what she's talking about."

Ino didn't reply, unclenching her hand slowly. She used the handkerchief to swipe at her eyes a few more times, but the tears were slowing. She glanced up at the clock.

"Don't you have a mid-morning shift at the hospital today?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder, springing out of the chair when her eyes focused on the time.

"Oh Kami. I'm gonna be late. I'm so sorry, Ino." Sakura ran to the back of her apartment, grabbed her bag and rushed to the door, pausing before she threw it open.

"Are you gonna be okay, Ino?"

Ino glanced down at her hands. Would she be okay?

Producing a weak smile, she nodded and stood, brushing away the last few remnants of tears as she followed Sakura out the door. It wouldn't do anyone any good for her to look like a mess.

"I'll be fine. See you later, forehead." She added the small gibe, hoping it would reassure her friend.

Sakura gave her a look that was not entirely convinced, but she smiled nonetheless. "Catch ya later, Ino-pig."

* * *

><p>Ino kept her eyes on the ground as she walked home, just in case the tears resurfaced.<p>

Unsurprisingly, walking in such a manner almost caused her to barrel straight into someone. She opened her mouth to apologize, but the other person spoke first.

"Ino, if it wasn't so troublesome, I'd think I should be worrying about how often you seem to be almost running into things."

Just the sound of his voice made her stomach flip and she found that she couldn't bring herself look at him.

Instead, she took the coward's way out. "And why would you ever want to do something so troublesome? Well, you can do us both a favor and just not bother to worry. Goodbye, Shikamaru."

The words dripped like acid from her tongue, and she regretted them as soon as they escaped her mouth, but she refused to turn back and apologize.

Ino doubled her pace towards home, leaving a bewildered genius in her wake.

* * *

><p><em>AN: So... good, bad, otherwise? This was originally going to be two separate chapters, but they were too short to separate. I hope it doesn't impede the flow too much. I'm feeling rather inspired recently, though my writing ability seems to be flying out the window at random intervals. BUT I have a good scene coming up, so I'm going to try to update again this week. And, of course, reviews are adored, my readers are wonderful, the sky is blue. These are facts of life. :) Hope you all enjoy!_


	7. Orchid

"Ino! If you're not down here in thirty seconds, I'm leaving without you."

Ignoring her father's agitated threats, she smoothed her dress down one more time. She had to admit as she looked at herself in the mirror, Billboard Brow had been right. The dress was perfect. Ino had gotten a few lilac blossoms from the garden earlier and pressed them to weave through her hair, which had otherwise been left loose, and the whole ensemble blended perfectly.

The actual wedding ceremony had occurred earlier in the day; most traditional weddings were small family affairs. The reception, however, was the real event. Practically all the people in Konoha –and some people from outside the village, Ino thought with ire – were invited to attend.

As the groom's teammate, she had a special place of honor at the table with Choji and Mai's family. Ino was picky about her appearance anyway, but with pressure like that, she took extra care to make sure everything was perfect.

Unfortunately, there was also a considerable downside to being asked to sit at the family table.

Ino frowned at her reflection as she noticed and quickly fixed a place where the makeup had smudged on her cheek. It had been almost a week since the last time she had spoken to Shikamaru. After she ran into him the previous Saturday and had been so rude, she hadn't been able to bring herself to apologize. Nor was she quite sure she wanted to. Stupid and rash as it had been, she still couldn't quite believe it. Shouldn't someone have told her that Temari was invited?

No, she considered. Really, it wasn't any of her business. Shikamaru did not have to consult her for his every action and she shouldn't be angry that he didn't.

Yet that didn't make it any less painful.

_Well, _Ino considered, looking thoughtfully at her appearance, _this day isn't for me anyway. I will go to the reception and be happy for Choji, because he deserves it. And no troublesome genius is going to stand in the way of that. _

Her confidence slightly bolstered, Ino set her comb and lip gloss down on the dresser.

"Ino! Now!"

She turned the light out in her room and rushed down the stairs. By the time she reached the bottom, her face was lit with a smile.

"Ready."

Her father sighed as he ushered her out the door. "Really, dear, I can't understand why it takes you so long."

Ino flashed a grin at him. "This doesn't happen every day, you know. Don't you remember what it was like back when your teammates got married?"

"Ha!" Inoichi let out a short bark of laughter, locking the door behind him before they began the short walk to the Akimichi residence.

"I couldn't forget those days if I tried. Choza was just like his son, a bundle of nerves at first, but calm as anything the day he took his vows. Shikaku, on the other hand…" Inoichi chuckled. "Shikaku was as twitchy as a wet cat. I swear, the man was fully convinced that Yoshino was just going to leave him at the altar. In all my years working with him, I have never seen that man as agitated as he was on the day of his wedding. It's a wonder he got through it without having a mental breakdown."

Ino giggled, her father's description calling forth the image of a young Shikaku and Yoshino; she had always imagined Shikaku as a reluctant groom under Yoshino's stern eye, but the image of him nervous was somewhat endearing.

"I can't imagine that." She admitted and her father raised an eyebrow, smiling nostalgically.

"It was certainly… uncharacteristic of him, to say the least. And I'd be willing to bet a good amount of money that the day that son of his gets married, he'll be the exact same way as his old man."

Ino wasn't sure what to say about that, so she avoided the subject entirely.

"Was Choza-san the first to get married?"

Inoichi shook his head. "Surprisingly enough, the first of us bachelors to get hitched was Shikaku. He'd had his life planned out ahead of him since he was a Genin."

Ino covered her mouth to suppress a laugh. For some reason, that struck a familiar chord.

"I guess it shouldn't have been a shock to any of us that when he met Yoshino, he knew. Knew absolutely at that moment that he had met the girl he wanted to marry. They couldn't have been dating more than six months when he proposed to her. After that, everything just fell into place."

Ino couldn't help but smile at the story, but at the same time, it left her feeling slightly bitter. Shikamaru had always had his life planned out ahead of him, but it had always included marrying some girl who wasn't too ugly and wasn't too beautiful. She vaguely wondered if he had found that girl yet. She smirked as she thought about how Temari might react to that knowledge.

"As for your old man," Inoichi continued, "I pined after your mother for longer than I should probably admit before she finally gave me the time of day. I swear, the day of my wedding, my teammates were celebrating my finally getting up the courage to ask her to marry me as much as they were celebrating the marriage itself."

Ino tilted her head to look at her father. "_You_, daddy? I would never expect that."

Inoichi chuckled as he reached for the latch that opened the back gate to the Akimichi grounds. The sight of it startled Ino a bit; caught up in their conversation as she had been, she hadn't even noticed their arrival.

"Well, no one else would really have expected it either. But if there's one thing to be said about us Yamanakas…" He swung the gate open, gesturing for Ino to walk through and putting a hand on her shoulder as they entered. "…we never give up when we have a goal in sight."

Ino felt something warm inside of her. Her father was right. It wasn't like a Yamanaka just to give up.

With ever-growing confidence, Ino made her way to her seat.

* * *

><p>Ino had to admit, it couldn't have been a more beautiful reception if she had decorated herself. The event was being held on the Akimichi grounds, but what she had known all her life as a simple clearing had been completely transformed. The whole area was lit with paper lanterns that glowed like miniscule stars as they hovered over the festivities. Each table was covered with a unique floral arrangement, most of which Ino had had some hand in, but the way they radiated light was certainly not her doing.<p>

The whole area sat on a slope that looked down over a relatively small lake. She couldn't remember whether that had always been there or not; perhaps the Akimichi's had chosen to do some landscaping after Pain decimated the village.

Ino was still admiring the beauty of it all when Mai approached her, grinning broadly. Ino got up from her seat and hugged the glowing bride, who hadn't even had a chance to sit as she greeted all of her guests. Ino hadn't been exaggerating when she assumed that all of Konoha would be here.

"So how does it feel to be a newlywed?"

Mai gave a shy smile, turning for a moment to glance at where Choji stood not far down the table, talking to Shikamaru. In that smile, Ino saw everything she needed to answer that question for herself.

"It's sort of strange, I guess. It doesn't feel all that different, but at the same time, it feels like a whole new life has opened up in front of me." Mai blushed, lowering her voice slightly. "But it's wonderful. I'm so happy."

Ino grinned unabashedly. And to think Choji had been worried…

"But that wasn't why I came over here!" Mai looked up as if she had suddenly recalled something important. "First, I wanted to thank you and your family for the flowers. They're absolutely lovely."

"Which are your favorite arrangements?" It seemed like a diverting question, but it was always one Ino made sure to ask. She had arranged flowers for many a wedding working in her parent's shop, but it seemed that the bride always had a unique opinion about which ones were the prettiest.

"Oh, there's no question." Mai gestured at the arrangement at the center of the family's table. "I don't know how you got those orchids to look so lovely."

Ino beamed. She had picked those out specially. She'd been cultivating them for months before the wedding, going through hours of painstaking care to make sure they were at the peak of loveliness by the time they were ready to be arranged.

Apparently, her work had paid off. "Oh, it was no trouble at all. I'm so glad you like them!"

Mai nodded, then upon noticing that Choji had moved on to speak to some of their other guests, realized she'd lingered too long. "Oh, I'd probably better get going!"

"Congratulations, Mai. I couldn't be happier for the two of you." Ino prepared to take her seat again, but Mai caught her wrist and she stopped.

"Thank you, Ino, but I had one more thing I needed to ask you about. I don't know if Choji asked you about the speeches…"

"He did." Ino nodded, grabbing a folded sheet of paper from underneath her placemat.

"Good." Mai smiled. "But he also had another request for you, if it's not too much trouble."

"Of course not." Ino smiled, though she was beginning to grow slightly wary. Choji wasn't really the type to spring last minute requests on people; he had informed her of the speech weeks ago.

_Unless,_ she thought, _he happens to know it's something I won't want to do, but can't refuse on the day of his wedding…_

"Well, since you and he and Shikamaru are so close, when we have our first dance, he'd sort of like you and Shikamaru to lead out halfway through, so the other couples know they can begin dancing as well."

Ino felt like all of the blood had just rushed out of her face.

_Choji… teme!_

That was what she thought, at least. What she said was quite different.

"Of course we will. It's no trouble at all."

Mai grinned and gave her another quick hug. "Thank you so much, Ino! I know he'll really appreciate it."

With that, the newlywed scampered off to join her new husband and Ino was left to sit back down, wondering what to do next.

True, it was Choji's day. True, as his teammate, Ino would do practically anything to make sure this day was perfect as it was within her power to make it. But _this_? She shook her head. This might be taking it just a bit…

"So, you care to air grievances before or after we dance? I'd prefer not to make a scene in the middle of it."

Ino didn't even have time to pretend that she had noticed him walk up beside her. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even heard him coming, and she was certain she jumped about a foot off the ground when she realized he was standing that close. All the confidence that she had been building earlier seemed to disintegrate in an instant.

_What is _wrong_ with me?_

"What?"

"Judging from the, uh…" Shikamaru stared into the distance as though he were searching for the right word. "…less-than-genial encounter we had last week, I'm guessing that something is wrong."

Ino bristled slightly. It was one thing to recognize her own faults; it was quite another to be accused of them outright. However, this was neither the time nor the place to be starting arguments. Swallowing her anger, she replied coolly:

"I think we ought to save that discussion. Now is… not the best time for it."

Shikamaru shrugged, but out of the corner of her eye, she noted a tension to his posture. When she turned slightly more toward him, she could see just by the set of his jaw that he was less nonchalant about the state of things than he seemed to be.

_Probably just wants it settled so he doesn't have anything "troublesome" to deal with. _She thought bitterly, but a small part of her railed against that thought.

_Maybe it's just gotten to him as much as it's gotten to me. _

She shook her head, suppressing the urge to laugh at herself.

"Idiotic…" she mumbled.

Shikamaru half-turned, a look of bemusement on his face. "What?"

_Did I say that out loud?_ Ino bit her lip.

"Nothing. Sorry."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but didn't question further.

Any response he tried to make would have been silenced regardless. The first strains of music began to echo through the clearing.

Ino swallowed the lump rising in her throat.

Just one dance, and then it would all be over with.

How bad could it be?

* * *

><p>Watching Choji and Mai, Ino could almost forget about the dread pooling in the pit of her stomach. Their dancing wasn't particularly graceful or smooth; poor Choji obviously had to concentrate not to step on her dress. But even with that, there was something… charming about it. Mai didn't even seem to notice if he missed a step and when she stumbled a little, Choji just smiled at her as though she had been graceful as a swan. Ino didn't even notice her grin until it faltered as Choji looked over at his two teammates and Shikamaru touched her arm.<p>

"Looks like that's our cue."

Looping her arm delicately through his, Ino allowed herself to be led to the dance floor. As soon as they stopped, she found herself swept into the perfect position and Shikamaru led out.

They might as well have been dancing together all their lives.

It probably shouldn't have surprised her that Konoha's resident genius was a good dancer –_he was good at practically everything, even if he was a lazy bum; why not this as well?_ — but it did nonetheless. For a moment, Ino felt almost self-conscious at being in his arms at the center of the room. That gave her a bit of a shock as well. Since when did _she_, Ino Yamanaka, feel self-conscious about being the center of attention? It was no wonder her father thought she was sick when she continued to act so strangely.

But the feeling gradually faded as other couples took the cue and came to the floor. Soon, Ino found her worry was solely concerned with the thoughts of one particular person.

_Ironic that the person closest seems the one that's farthest away. _

"Ino, we need to talk."

He spoke directly into her ear and the feeling of his breath ghosting over her skin made goose bumps rise on her arm.

"This really _isn't_ the time." She mumbled back, trying to keep her voice low enough that only he could hear it.

"I'm aware." He drawled back sarcastically. "But this is going to get more troublesome the longer you put it off."

"Is anything ever less than troublesome for you?" She quipped, struggling to keep her voice barely above a whisper.

Shikamaru managed a shrug even as they were dancing. "Not generally."

Ino rolled her eyes, turning her head away from him.

Shikamaru stopped, one his hands still clasped around hers and the other at her waist. At first, Ino was surprised, but then she realized, in her annoyance, she had completely failed to notice that the music had stopped.

He looked in her squarely in the eye, his gaze piercing, then leaned forward and spoke directly into her ear.

"But this is more troublesome than most."

Ino took a reflexive step away from him, her hands falling limp at her sides.

"Wha—?"

"Shikamaru!" Choji grinned, clapping a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Can I talk to you for just a second?"

Shikamaru blinked, and in a moment he was back to his typical slouching posture, all traces of grace gone. "Sure. Later, Ino."

Ino couldn't even bring her hand up to wave the two of them off. She remained there, stunned for a moment before finally getting her head organized enough to realize she needed to go back to her seat.

As she walked back, she caught a knowing look from Sakura, but she chose to ignore it. She wasn't sure she could even answer any questions Sakura had at the moment.

Even before she could make it back to her seat, Ino was stopped by Choji's mother, who seemed not to notice the daze she was in.

"About time for the toasts, dearie. Are you ready?"

Ino let out a nervous laugh that may or may not have had anything to do with the speech.

"Only if they're ready for me."

* * *

><p><em>AN: So first things first. _

_Yes, there was about a week's worth of time-skip between this chapter and the last. I honestly don't think it's going to detract from the plot, unless you really wanted to hear me ramble for five more days worth. Hope it didn't cause any confusion. _

_Secondly... two updates in one week! I'm on a roll, it seems. Have I mentioned how much I ADORE summer? I get so much more done. _

_Last note, for those who are wondering "Where's Temari? Did she just drop out of the plotline? Did the author seriously just bring up that whole incident, just to completely forget about it a chapter later? IS SHE REALLY THAT DENSE?" No. I'm not. It's coming, I promise. :) And at the rate I've been writing, hopefully soon. _

_Sorry for the ridiculously long author's note and **thank you** for reading! It makes the time I spend on this all the more worthwhile._


	8. Daffodil

Ino approached the center calmly, taking her place next to Mai. She cleared her throat and smiled, a genuine, honest smile, as she looked at the guests. Perhaps if she had been able to see the person standing just to Choji's left from where she stood, she would have been slightly more nervous, but as it was, she felt relatively comfortable. Who wouldn't, speaking to people that had been a part of their lives for so many years?

Taking a final steadying breath, she began.

"I'm positive you all know who I am, but just in case there are some of you who are unfortunate enough not to, I'll start this speech off with a warning: as my teammates here well know, I like to talk… a lot. So trust me when I say this won't be brief."

Most people who knew her chuckled lightly, but there was a veritable outburst of laughter from the corner of the clearing where most of the Konoha 11 were congregated. Shooting a half-smile, half-glare at her comrades, Ino continued.

"The bonds of the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka clans have gone back as far as anyone can remember. For us, they've gone back to the time we were kids, playing at being ninjas and laughing at the idea that a prissy little girl, a lazy boy who only liked to stare at clouds and a kid who was a food connoisseur by the ripe old age of 3 would ever become anything greater than just that.

"As Genin placed together on the same team, we continued to wonder how that would ever be fulfilled. We went through our fair share of what we thought were pointless missions…"

At that point, Ino could have sworn that she heard some sort of a confirmation in the form of a "hell yeah" from the same corner that had been the source of most of the laughter. It ended with a "dattebayo" that was halted halfway through as a certain pink-haired kunoichi punched the offender in the shoulder, a bit harder than was necessary. Ino had to swallow laughter in order to transition into a slightly more serious tone. [1]

"…as well as our fair share of missions we thought we would never get through. There were missions that tore us apart, body and soul… but in the end, it just made us strong. Made our bonds closer, made us understand one another. In time, we understood where we stood in the world. Our sensei taught us a lot of things…"

At this, she couldn't help but pause. Choji's head was bowed slightly; she still couldn't see Shikamaru, which was probably for the best. One look at him after a mention of Asuma-sensei and she probably wouldn't make it through the rest of the speech.

"…but the most important was that we had to be confident in our abilities as shinobi, as teammates… and as people. This wedding is just another realization of that lesson.

"Choji and Mai have moved into a new era today, proving that we are always stronger united."

She turned, smiling at the two of them affectionately. "I know the two of you will be."

Ino kept her gaze on them for a moment; looking at how happy they were, something inside of her was completely joyous and utterly broken all at once. She tried not to think about how much of that might be connected to the person standing just out of sight on Choji's other side.

Shaking away the feeling as best she could, Ino turned back to the guests. "We're gathered to celebrate these two magnificent people. A spring marriage is only right, because it embodies the same ideas that these two are a shining example of. That even after winter, or war, or pain has shattered our view of the world… there's always hope. Always, there is a glimmer of something beautiful and wonderful and lovely. And this is it."

Ino thought about her words for a moment, inwardly skeptical. _Kami,_ _I'm getting all philosophic. It's about time to wrap this up._

She looked back again, this time directing her gaze at the blushing bride.

"Mai, for you, I just have to say welcome to the family. Choji's more of a brother than a teammate, so it's only fitting. I hope you know you're getting one heck of a guy. I've never seen him as happy as he's been in the time leading up to the wedding, except for perhaps right this moment. And that includes the time he won a bet against Asuma-sensei, who ended up paying for his meals for a full month."

This time the laughter was widespread, and Choji, though his face went red, laughed appreciatively with them. Mai covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

"Sorry," Ino grinned. "You knew I couldn't do this without at least one semi-embarrassing story popping out, Choji."

Choji nodded reluctantly, still smiling, and Ino continued. "But all jokes aside. Mai, you make him happier than I've ever seen him and it's no less than the two of you deserve. I hope that happiness thrives and blossoms in your marriage."

"Choji…" She put her hands on her hips, eyeing him authoritatively. "Mai is a sweet, wonderful, lovely girl and you had better treat her accordingly. Otherwise, she knows where to find me and I will certainly help her fix that problem."

Another bout of laughter came from the guests and Ino couldn't keep up her mock-seriousness. She let the façade slip, smiling as she went back to a gentler tone.

"I'm so happy for the two of you. If anyone ever deserved this, it's the two of you and I hope you cherish every moment. You've accomplished so much and you have so much ahead of you. Don't waste one second of your time together. I wish you absolutely every happiness this world has to offer. Congratulations to both of you."

The applause started as soon as she finished her speech and when Mai hugged her, Ino could see tears of joy gathering on the girl's lower lashes.

She hugged Choji as well, grinning at him as she spoke quietly, her words almost drowned out by the clapping of the guests. "Who'd have thought, Choji? Remember what I told you a week ago about being nervous?"

The corner of his mouth raised a little. "I remember."

"And?"

He sighed grudgingly. "You were right."

Ino grinned. "That's what I thought. Congratulations, Choji."

As she was returning to the table, she paused for a moment, raising her voice enough that she could be heard by all the guests.

"And don't forget, there needs to be something in that wedding contract about any kids of yours coming to visit their Aunt Ino at least once a week!" She winked.

The crowd burst into laughter, and Ino could have sworn she saw Choji mouth "Kids?" before going slightly pale. Ino grinned to herself as she took her seat.

The guests went quiet again as Shikamaru took a step forward.

"Well, unlike Ino, I'm not much of a talker. It's kind of troublesome, actually, but I'll do the best I can.

"Choji and I have been best friends since before we were Genin. Both of us always knew what we wanted out of life and what was expected of us. Belonging to the Nara and Akimichi clans, we knew that someday we'd be filling the roles our fathers took on as clan heads.

"It can be a burden, growing up with the knowledge that the fate of an entire clan rests on your shoulders. But we learned after a while that having responsibilities isn't just about carrying those tasks by ourselves. It's about finding the person who, when those burdens get too troublesome to bear, can make us believe that we can carry on anyway despite whatever hardships we face."

He smiled lazily at the happy couple. "Seems like you've found it. You two are the lucky ones."

"As shinobi, we carry on the Will of Fire. We go through hardships that some people never dream of. But it doesn't make us any less human. It doesn't make the bonds of family or friendship…"

Ino didn't realize she had been watching his movements so sharply until she noticed his head turn slightly. She caught the direction of his gaze, and her heart sank.

_Temari._

She immediately lowered her eyes to her plate, biting her lip to make herself focus on something other than the lump rising in her throat and the ache deep in her gut.

"… or love any less important. I once heard someone say, though I'm paraphrasing, that when it comes to the people they love, people are all just the same."

Ino's head shot up.

_Did he…_

"It's true. I've seen plenty of people in love and if I know anything—"

That drew quite a few laughs.

"—the two of you certainly are. If you're half as happy as you seem, I'll probably be dragged up here to make another troublesome speech on your 50th anniversary. Kami help these poor people when I do."

Choji grinned.

"Congratulations, you two."

It was a concise ending to the speech, but it was fitting. The guests broke out into equally fervent applause and after a quick word from Choji and a hug from Mai, Shikamaru returned to his seat as well.

He didn't even spare a glance at Ino as he walked by.

* * *

><p>After the speeches ended, the reception became less structured and people began to disperse into smaller groups and find their way out onto the dance floor, though Choji and Mai remained the center of attention. The music continued to play; a few men asked Ino to dance, but she politely declined, choosing instead to watch the room from over near the railing.<p>

In all honesty, it really wasn't like Ino to do such a thing, but then again, she wasn't really feeling like herself. She had never before understood why people-watching was so appealing to some people, but as she scanned the crowd, she was beginning to understand.

She carefully avoided looking at the corner of the room where a certain Nara male sat talking with a certain Suna kunoichi. Whatever they were talking about, she didn't want to know.

Her father, she noted, was deep into a bottle of sake along with his fellow former teammates. While the sight made her laugh at first, it also came with a sensation of slight displeasure at the thought of what that meant for the walk home. She just hoped he would be sober enough to get home without stumbling all over the place or needing to be supported the entire way. She had rarely seen her father get that drunk, but there were always exceptions…

Sitting at another table not too far away was Rock Lee, staring at a drink across the table with some fixation; she wasn't quite sure why, but something told her that it couldn't be good. And worse, neither of his teammates seemed to be anywhere near him. Ino grimaced as she recalled what had happened the last time Lee got drunk. That was _just_ what this wedding needed…

Turning her gaze to the dance floor, Ino spotted Kiba spinning his teammate Hinata around the floor. The Hyuuga girl cracked a smile and then actually laughed, not even blushing like she normally did. When they turned, Ino could fully see Kiba's face, and she was more than a little surprised by what she glimpsed there. Gone was the traditional rough, ready-to-fight look that she had always associated with Kiba. While he certainly still maintained that essence of a fighter, he looked… gentler, almost like…

Ino drew a sharp intake of air, covering her mouth to stifle a delighted laugh. How had she never noticed things like this before?

If that look was any indicator, Kiba was positively head-over-heels for Hinata.

The thought was unconventional to say the least: the tough, wild Inuzuka boy with delicate Hinata? She almost couldn't reconcile it.

The more she considered it, though, the less it made her laugh; instead, it churned her insides with a familiar uneasiness.

_Poor boy. I know a lost cause when I see one. Hinata's been in love with Naruto since we were Genin. That's not likely to change any time_—

"It's not like you not to dance."

Ino stiffened at the sound of Shikamaru's voice, but released the tension quickly, shrugging it off in the hopes that he hadn't noticed. She looked back at the place where she had seen him mere moments before, only to find the table vacant.

_How strange._

"It's not like I haven't been asked. Plenty of guys here wanted to dance with me."

"You know, it's troublesome enough to talk, but it's worse when the person you're talking to doesn't even bother to listen."

Ino scoffed, crossing her arms huffily, doing her very best to direct her gaze pointedly at any place other than at the man standing next to her. "I was listening."

"No, you weren't." Shikamaru countered. He leaned back against the railing, crossing his arms. "I didn't ask if you hadn't been asked to dance. I said that it's not like you not to. I thought you enjoyed it."

"I do…" she mumbled quietly, "…but why does it even matter?"

Ino looked at the ground, highly reluctant to look at Shikamaru. While it was perfectly easy to be confident of her rash decisions on her own, it was much harder to deal with the consequences when she was faced with them directly. When after a few moments, he didn't answer, she turned to look at him, curiosity getting the better of her embarrassment.

"Don't suppose it does." Shikamaru finally answered. He seemed to be otherwise occupied, his eyes narrowing as he appeared to be watching something in the distance. He stared fixedly for a moment, and then smirked slightly.

Ino followed his gaze, but she couldn't figure out exactly what she was supposed to be looking at. The spot at which he seemed to be staring was empty, save for a few lantern-lit trees. Beyond that, the field opened on an expanse of the first daffodils of spring that extended as far as the eye could see. Admittedly, it was a beautiful sight, but Ino couldn't imagine that Shikamaru would be interested in that. Exasperated, she turned away and was rewarded by catching sight of something far more interesting.

"Hmm."

"What?"

Ino looked over to find Shikamaru staring at the place where her own gaze had just been, before idly coming back to rest on her. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize I said anything."

"What were you looking at?"

"That." She motioned across the room.

Sitting at a back table were Lee's two seemingly missing teammates whom she'd not been able to locate earlier. Tenten, whom Ino was quite sure she had never seen dressed so nicely, had her hands folded across the table and looked slightly perturbed. Neji, seated next to her, leaned forward and whispered something into her ear. Tenten turned toward him, pausing for a moment, her facial expression caught somewhere between confusion and amusement. She directed a question to Neji, who just shrugged and turned back to watch the dance floor, smirking a little. Tenten, obviously annoyed, moved closer to him, wrapping her arm around his and saying something that looked like a cross between a threat and a plea.

Neji said nothing, but her arm remained looped through his. After a few moments, he stood and her hand fell away. Ino could see the heartbreak clear on the girl's face until the Hyuuga turned back, holding out a hand, which Tenten took gladly.

"Bet the clan elders will have a field day with that." Ino said laughingly.

Shikamaru just shrugged, and Ino bit her lip, berating herself inwardly for even bringing it up. Shikamaru had never cared much for gossip, especially concerning other people's relationships. She had been stupid even to bring it up.

"Do you want to dance, Ino?"

"What?"

Shikamaru turned to look at her, annoyance plain on his face.

"Stop staring at me like I've grown a second head. I just asked if you wanted to dance, troublesome woman."

"What about…" she trailed off, unable to bring herself to say it. Any mention now would just make her look stupid.

Shikamaru gave her that singular look of his that never failed to make her feel any less than idiotic. "What about what?"

"Whom." She corrected quietly, but he didn't seem to hear.

She performed one last scan of the room, but there was still no sign of Temari.

"You say _I'm_ acting strangely. You'd never dance unless someone held a kunai to your back."

Surprisingly, he simply held out his hand. "I'd prefer to dance if it will make you any less miserable than you seem to be now."

Ino flushed. _Is it that obvious?_

She stared at his hand for a moment, uncertain, before taking it tentatively.

As he led her out to the floor, she thought back to his statement at the end of the last dance.

"You said we needed to talk."

He shrugged, placing a hand at her waist with almost-expert nonchalance. A song with a moderate tempo began to play, and they began the first few steps. Ino was still surprised at the easy refinement of his dancing.

"Do we ever really talk, Ino? I suppose I should have said we need a session of you talking and me trying to listen."

Ino frowned. That was neither the answer she had been hoping for nor the one she had been expecting. Just what exactly was he driving at?

"Fine. What do _I_ need to talk about then?"

"You could start off by telling me why you exploded at me the other day."

Ino found herself getting embarrassed again. "Maybe I _should_ stop talking for once."

"You're avoiding the question." Shikamaru pointed out, obviously not content to waltz around the subject. "And I seriously doubt this would work well the other way. You expect me to do all the talking?"

"Why not?" She retorted, defiance building within her. "After all, there are some questions you could probably stand to account for. Shouldn't you be with Temari?"

Shikamaru stumbled, paling visibly as he recovered himself in time to spin her gracefully around so that she could see the tables over his shoulder.

"Temari?"

"Yes, Temari." Ino had to fight to keep the resentment out of her voice. It was a losing battle. "Isn't she here to see you?"

Shikamaru's expression darkened, and for the first time since she'd first seen the girl in Konoha, Ino felt a slight growing doubt about the validity of her theories. Judging from the look on his face, perhaps things weren't quite as cordial between them as she had first thought.

"Not precisely."

"Not precisely?" Ino pressed, unable to stop herself now that he was finally talking. She _would_ get to the bottom of this. People had a habit of calling her a busybody anyway. If there was any truth in what they said, she might as well be good at it.

"That's what I said." He muttered with considerable ire, at least as much as he ever expressed. "Che, Ino, why does it matter to you?"

"Why does it _matter_?" She had enough foresight to lower her voice, but she stepped away from him, her hand slipping out of his. It hadn't been the proper thing to say, but once again, Ino had let her emotions take over where rationality should have been present.

Always the quick thinker and reluctant to draw attention to their little quarrel, Shikamaru stepped forward, closing the distance between them and taking her hand again.

"If you're going to keep scolding me, you should at least save that until after the wedding. I don't think Choji'd appreciate us causing a scene, and Kami forbid my mother thought I had done something to offend you. I swear, she likes you better than she likes me, her own son…"

Ino felt the sudden rush of anger slowly draining, soothed away by his calm demeanor.

"Why do you have to be so damned level-headed, baka?" She muttered darkly, and Shikamaru actually let out a laugh, going beyond his traditional smirk.

"Well, someone on our team has to balance out your temper."

Ino scoffed, opening her voice some biting remark, but she suddenly stopped, her attention elsewhere. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two of Choji's relatives spinning around the floor in large unsteady circles, gradually coming close enough to careen right into them. She stepped forward to avoid being knocked over, unintentionally drawing herself closer to Shikamaru.

Apparently, Shikamaru had noticed the pair as well. At the same time that Ino stepped forward, he drew her in closer, wrapping his arm all the way around her waist and shifting ever so slightly, so that even if there was a collision, the careless couple would run into him.

But Ino didn't notice this last part. Instead, she was more focused on the fact that she suddenly found herself afraid to take a deep breath when he was in such close proximity. Even breathing shallowly, that scent - the one she hadn't realized she had come to associate with him - hit her senses at full force. It was the smell of fresh grass and warm sunlight and a fresh breeze… and just the barest hint of smoke. She had reprimanded him endlessly for the habit when he first picked it up, calling it vile and disgusting; even now that he'd quit, there was still that subtle layer of it that remained with him. Strangely, however, she didn't mind the smell like she once had. Now, it was just a part of the scent that defined him, the one that made her heart ache with the feelings she couldn't express.

After a few moments, the tipsy couple passed them by and went spinning out past the dance floor, laughing loudly. Ino expected Shikamaru to take a step back now that the sudden potential disaster had been averted.

It didn't happen.

Remaining that close, Ino was forced to adjust her arm to compensate for the change. Where it had been resting on his shoulder, she now wrapped it around the back of his neck, hesitantly turning her head to lean the side of her cheek against his chest.

Strangely, Shikamaru didn't seem to mind, or if he did, he didn't express it. Knowing him, that was the more likely of the two.

"Do you plan on telling me what's wrong, Ino, or are you going to keep avoiding my questions?" He lowered his voice and spoke directly into her ear, and she was infinitely glad that she was facing away from him. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut and it took all of her control to suppress the shiver that almost ran down her spine.

"After this." She intoned quietly.

It only seemed fair to allow herself one more moment of bliss before all hell broke loose.

* * *

><p>Shikaku Nara leaned forward on the table, groaning slightly.<p>

"I'm getting too old for this."

"_You're_ getting too old?" Choza gave a belly-laugh, downing another cup of sake. "My only son just got married."

Inoichi snickered appreciatively, reaching over to pour another cup of sake for himself when his vision, though slightly blurred, caught on something in the distance.

"Speaking of sons... I thought you said your son wasn't interested in my daughter, Nara." The words came out as practically a growl, enough to bring Shikaku partially out of his drunken stupor.

"What in the hell are you going on about, Inoichi? Really, I swear, you're too overprotective of that girl. My son—"

He stopped, suddenly seeing exactly what had caused his former teammate to make such a remark.

His son – his lazy, unmotivated, slug of a son – was dancing. And not just attempting to dance, actually managing to make himself look graceful, dancing with a beautiful young lady…

…who just happened to be Inoichi's daughter.

Shikaku blinked a few times, trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he knew, but the thoughts came slowly and weren't pieced together well.

"I…" he shook his head. "I don't guess I know anything more than you do, I'm afraid."

"They've been teammates for years." Choza supplied, smiling as he poured more sake into his friends' glasses. "It's just a dance."

Inoichi shrugged, deciding to let the subject die for now. Maybe Choza was right, and it was just the sake clouding his judgment.

But at the same time, he wasn't so sure. He had been a teenage boy at one point, and he'd seen looks like that. Not only that, he was intelligence officer. He knew how to read people. Even with that stoic Nara face of his, either Shikamaru had gotten as much to drink as the three former Ino-Shika-Cho members combined, or he was a love struck young man if Inoichi had ever seen one.

And that only meant one thing: he and the Nara boy would be having a serious talk very soon…

* * *

><p><em>AN: Okay, first off, I just have to say... I adore writing about older generation Ino-Shika-Cho. They crack me up. :) _

_Also, I must send out a HUGE thank you to my wonderful beta, Wroathe. Without her assistance, I guarantee the first half of this chapter would be far, far worse. Speaking of which, I normally don't include citations in my stories; however, there is one in this chapter, because I cannot claim credit for the idea for Naruto's comment in the middle of Ino's speech at [1]. My wonderful beta thought that up while reading over the scene and it was just too funny not to include. So I attribute that little piece of humor to her. :)_

_As for the rest, I hope you all enjoy. __I adore each and every one one of your reviews and comments. __This is probably about the fourth or fifth draft of this scene and I'm still not certain about it, but here it is nonetheless. I apologize for the lateness. Next update will be fairly prompt, I promise. _

_- Senka_


	9. Marigold

Ino was more reluctant than she cared to admit to step away when the dance was finished, but to linger would only make things worse. She followed Shikamaru away from the floor and lowered herself into a chair, steeling herself for what was sure to come next.

"Well—"

She hadn't even gotten the first syllable out when a shadow fell across the table where the two of them sat.

"Shikamaru." The sound of that voice made Ino's skin crawl. She didn't even bother to hide the glare as she turned around.

Temari had a hand on her hip, and was looking skeptically at Shikamaru, giving seemingly no regard whatsoever to Ino. "I need to talk to you."

Shikamaru sighed, lowering his head into his hands. He rubbed his temples agitatedly before looking back up at her. "I thought we finished talking."

"Not quite." Her tone was positively venomous and Ino's anger spiked again. She found herself standing all of a sudden, almost falling into a defensive stance.

After that, it seemed as though Temari had finally become aware of Ino's presence. She turned her harsh gaze on Ino, giving her a look that would have made even the heartiest of plants wither.

"What?"

And for once, Ino found herself at a complete loss for words. She looked at Temari, fuming and dangerous. If she was going to be completely frank, Temari could probably break her in half and destroy her faster than Ino could say Jounin. Ino had improved quite a bit in her training, but she still doubted she was any match for the girl from the Sand.

In any other situation, Ino would have picked the fight anyway. _No one _treated Ino Yamanaka that way and got away with it. And no second-rate, messy-haired girl who may not have even owned a mirror would stand in the way of what Ino wanted.

But then she looked at Shikamaru.

If Temari was what he wanted, who was she to stand in his way? It had only been one kiss and two dances, and it didn't mean anything. Nothing at all.

That was exactly what she told herself as she took a step back and met Temari's gaze head on, her expression veiled. "Nothing. I was just leaving."

She ignored the way her heart fractured as she walked away.

* * *

><p>A few drinks later, Ino found herself accepting those offers she had previously declined, as the young men lined up for a turn to take her for a spin out on the dance floor. She batted eyes at more than a few of them and laughed louder than she should have, almost forgetting to care whether <em>he<em> was watching or not.

Almost.

One of her suitors even offered to walk her home. He was undeniably handsome, with perfectly-styled ebony black hair and smoldering hazel eyes, but Ino, even in her haze, thought instead of messy locks and calculating black pupils. In the end, she turned him down.

By the time she decided to collect herself and leave, both Shikamaru and Temari were long gone. She didn't care where they'd gone, she reassured herself. Her father had retired earlier as well, telling her a brief goodbye and warning her to be careful on her way home.

Ino walked along the road to her house in a swaying path, her perception more than slightly skewed. When she heard someone calling her name, she almost thought it was just in her head, but then a form came into view out of the corner of her eye.

"Ino, wait up!"

Sakura put a hand on Ino's shoulder as she reached her, but she immediately took a step back when she got close, making a face of disgust. "Ino, you reek."

"And your forehead is enormous. Shouldn't greet your best friend…" Ino paused, hiccoughing. "…like that."

Ino laughed, throwing her hands up in the air. It knocked her off balance and she went stumbling to the side, giggling like a madwoman. "And 'sides, I feel great."

Sakura stared at her for a long moment, her green eyes narrowed with concern. Finally, she took her friend's arm, steering her along the path to the Yamanaka house. While this would not be a fun escapade if Inoichi was still up, Sakura considered, it was better that Ino go home to rest in her own bed and sleep off what was going to be a monster of a hangover, from the looks of her.

Ino chattered mindlessly to herself, leaning heavily on Sakura for support. By the time they reached her house, she was half asleep on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura took the key from her and opened the door quietly, grateful to find that everyone in the house seemed to be asleep. She half-dragged Ino up the stairs and deposited her on the bed before turning away to rummage through Ino's closet where the herbs were stored. She finally found the one she needed and, judging Ino to be effectively incapacitated for the moment, went downstairs to brew it into some tea.

When she returned to the room, she found Ino awake but no longer talking to herself; instead, she was sprawled on the bed, staring vacantly up at the ceiling.

"Here." Sakura held out the cup, waiting until Ino had a firm hold on it to release it into her grasp. "Drink that. It'll help you."

Ino did as she was told, downing almost all of it in one gulp. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as the liquid burned down her throat, but after a few moments, the pain receded and she sank back down onto the bed, resuming her staring contest with the ceiling.

After a few moments, she broke the silence in the room.

"It helped at first. Made the pain go away for a little while. I don't know why I thought it would help. I never do that." She lolled her head absently from side to side, not looking at Sakura. Finally, she settled on one side, chuckling slightly. "I'm an idiot. He's a genius and I'm an idiot who drunk herself silly."

Sakura regarded her fretfully. "You weren't alright the other day. I shouldn't have left you alone."

"Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter what the hell I do. He's gonna go off and marry her and have his two kids and I'm gonna flit from guy to guy and never settle on one like the common street sl—"

"Ino." Sakura's tone was so serious that even in her half-drunken stupor, Ino paused. "You got drunk. Admittedly, that wasn't the smartest move. But you're not an idiot and what you do _does_ matter."

Ino shook her head, and didn't bother to rub the tears that were now cascading down her cheeks out of her eyes. She waved a lazy hand toward the window. "You see that patch of the garden down there? For years I've tried to plant different things there. But they all just die, and the only thing that will survive is marigolds."

Her hand dropped to the bed and she sobbed openly. "They look so pretty, but they smell like despair… and I-I don't think anything else will ever g-grow there. It's just like that. I c-can't do anything."

Sakura came over and sat down next to Ino, holding out a box of tissues which she simply ignored. Had she been sober, Ino never would have been in such disarray, but as it was, she didn't seem to care. Finally, Sakura consented to blot away the tears for her, waiting to speak until Ino's sobs had died down a little.

"You can't know unless you keep trying. But now, I think you need sleep. It's been a stressful day, and that's the best thing for you right now. Trust me, I'm a medic."

Ino turned her head and raised an eyebrow, and Sakura could see some of the clarity starting to return to her eyes, though they were still slightly glazed. Part of that might simply have been from fatigue. Even as she turned her head, she was slowly drifting off, losing touch with consciousness.

"And you know something else?" Sakura said, recalling something that, in her state of concern, she hadn't even considered until just now. "I remembered something you might like to hear. It was what I was going to talk to you about before we had to fix this whole mess."

"Mhm?" Ino responded sleepily, cracking one drooping eyelid open to look at Sakura.

"You remember when Shikamaru was giving his speech?"

"Mhm." That was barely more than a murmur, even more disconnected than the first, but Sakura continued anyway, picturing the scene in her mind's eye.

"During a part of it, when he was talking about important bonds and all that, he mentioned love…"

Sakura paused, remembering the scene as clearly as if she were there. Shikamaru hadn't looked nervous. To be honest, he rarely looked anything other than slightly bored. But he had paused when he came to that portion of the speech, and for a split second, his expression had softened as his eyes strayed across the room, only lighting on someone for the barest fraction of a moment before returning back to the happy couple.

And Sakura had seen exactly where that gaze had been directed. At a girl who, for some reason, hadn't been looking at him, but down at her plate instead.

"When he said that, Ino…" Sakura paused, praying for Ino's sake that it hadn't been her mind playing tricks on her. "…he was looking at you."

Sakura stopped, turning to gauge her friend's reaction. Stunned silence had not been the one she was expecting.

But in fact, the reaction was none at all. Ino had finally succumbed to the clutches of sleep, the tear stains still fresh on her cheeks.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Shortest chapter yet, I think, but I figure it balances somewhat with the enormous length of the last one. I needed a transition piece, and this finally came to me. Hopefully it's halfway decent. Still, two updates in a one-week time period. Not bad, eh? :)_

_Speaking of updates, just to let you all know, I may or may not be prompt with updates for a little while. I have a busy couple of weeks coming up, family functions and traveling and such, so I'll try to write when I get the chance, but I'll have to see how it goes. So don't be too distressed if it doesn't update for a little while. And, if that does end up being the case, I'll write an extra long scene or a few chapters close together just to make up for it. _

_And, as I always say - I know, I'm going a little broken record here, but I'm okay with that - your reviews are awesome. I appreciate them enormously. :D You guys are the best._

_- Senka_


	10. Chrysanthemum

It was Sunday, and Ino awoke to a massive headache. She rolled over with a groan, attempting to escape from the blinding light that was insistent on amplifying the pain in her head to unbearable levels. She sat up slowly, watching as the world reeled slightly. It made her a little nauseous.

The events of the previous night came back slowly, appearing in her memory as if they were being glimpsed through a heavy fog. The more she recalled, the worse she felt.

She blinked a few times slowly to clear the haze. Tilting her head to glance at her alarm clock, she was surprised to find something blocked her view. She stretched a hand out, fingers closing around the object.

It was a vial, and with it was a note printed in familiar handwriting:

"Ino-pig,

Here's something to take the edge off the headache. Don't do anything reckless.

- Sakura"

Ino smiled wryly. Trust it to Sakura to take care of her when she did something stupid. She downed the concoction in slow sips, grimacing slightly. It tasted familiar, but she couldn't be sure of much of anything right at the moment.

Whatever it was, it was certainly helpful. The light rapidly became more bearable and the headache receded to more of a dull annoyance than anything else. Feeling much improved, Ino stood and looked at herself in the mirror.

That action, unfortunately, did nothing to help her mood. She had apparently failed to change when she arrived home last night. She wore the same, slightly more rumpled lavender dress and her long hair fell in waves over her shoulders, all ornaments long since gone. Her makeup was smeared in long streaks that spoke of tears, but she told herself she would wash it later, once she had gotten something to ease the burning in her throat.

Ino trailed down the stairs with all the grace of a wounded elephant, not bothering to be quiet in her movements. Sunday mornings were generally the day that her mother and father went to the market for the week.

It was just as well, considering the state she was in.

She reached the bottom step, but her foot faltered and she had to clutch the handrail to keep from falling flat on her back.

Two pairs of eyes turned to look at her from where they sat conversing at the kitchen table; one was the same bright teal as her own, the other an unfathomably dark black. Both looked mildly bemused, as though they had been caught in the middle of some shady business deal and had failed to recall that other people lived in the house.

"Ino dear!"

"Ino…"

Ino looked between the two of them incredulously, folding her arms behind her back to pinch the skin where it was out of their line of sight.

She felt the pain sharply and blinked at them again.

Nope. Certainly not dreaming.

"What…"

Inoichi stood, smiling at his daughter as though nothing unusual was happening. "I didn't assume you'd be up so early after such a late night."

Ino took the final step down, still balancing against the handrail. "What's going on?"

Inoichi seemed at a loss for words. The young man still seated at the table remained as impassive as ever, his hands folded patiently in front of him.

"The young Nara and I were having a discussion about some plans his father has for a project within the intelligence division." Inoichi finally supplied, gesturing at Shikamaru offhandedly. "Shikamaru was just saying he had a few more errands to run, weren't you, boy?"

Ino turned her skeptical gaze to Shikamaru, only to find her was looking at her strangely. Strangely for him, at least, which translated to slightly more perplexed than usual. Ino remembered at that point how bedraggled she must look, and she had to fight the urge to run upstairs and lock herself away permanently.

But the damage was already done, so she continued to look at him with marked doubt.

"Yeah." Shikamaru confirmed. "Have to go see off some delegates for Tsunade-sama, or something troublesome like that."

He stood, and Ino didn't fail to catch a look exchanged between the two men that clearly said "we'll continue this conversation later." He waved lazily as he let himself out the door. "See you, Ino."

When the door closed behind him, Inoichi moved to the cabinets as though nothing had happened. "Your mother's still feeling under the weather, which is why we weren't out this morning. I thought I would have breakfast ready when you woke up, but I got delayed by the unexpected visit from your teammate."

Ino moved slowly to the table, still not entirely convinced that she wasn't hallucinating. "So he just came by… to talk about a project that his father is organizing… that you all could have talked about _yesterday_…"

Inoichi didn't seem to hear her, busying himself by pulling the milk out of the refrigerator and pouring it into a glass for Ino. "If you don't mind, would you watch the store today? I need to run some paperwork by Tsunade-sama's office and then pick up some things for your mother."

"Sure." Ino muttered, staring listlessly at the glass of milk as her father set it down in front of her. Whatever had just happened here, it was obvious that she wouldn't be getting it out of her father.

Throat still on fire, Ino downed the milk, hoping the coming day would be less confusing than its inauspicious beginning.

* * *

><p>The flower shop was surprisingly busy that morning, which kept Ino's mind away from her misery and the strange encounter from earlier. It seemed that a unit had just returned from a particularly hazardous mission which had left most of the shinobi in a state to be placed in critical care at the hospital. For the Yamanaka Flower Shop, that meant quite a bit of business.<p>

After about an hour or so of steady business, Ino took the last customer's order, promising delivery within the day. The woman, who looked about the age to be the young wife of one of the injured, thanked her graciously and left, slightly less anxious than she had been when she entered.

With the last of the barrage of orders finished, Ino set to watering the plants scattered around the shop and trimming away any dying stems. The tasks normally would have given her a chance to think about possible reasons for Shikamaru's presence in her house, but her thoughts were coming slowly, likely a combined effect of the hangover and whatever medicine Sakura had given her.

She stopped at the chrysanthemums, smiling slightly. They had faced a hard time when they were first being cultivated, particularly because they were out of season, but they had pulled through nicely with a little extra care, erupting in a burst of color, vivid reds, yellows and pinks that seemed to reflect back the sun's rays from the window.

"Hey."

Ino froze in the middle of watering the chrysanthemums.

What was _she_ doing here?

"Can I help you?" Ino tried to keep the edge out of her voice as she turned around to face the direction from which the voice had come.

Temari was reclined against the counter, staring at the ceiling fan as it rotated slowly up above. Her face seemed to have lost all traces of the fury that had characterized it the previous night.

"I'd like to talk to you."

Ino raised an eyebrow, taking her time to walk behind the counter. "Well, I'm manning the shop right at the moment. I'm not sure that this is the best time to be chatting."

She attempted to make herself look busy by glancing through the accounts, but a hand slammed down in the middle of the papers, scattering half of them onto the floor.

"Look, princess. I'm trying to be nice about this, but we need to talk, whether you like it or not. And now is as good a time as any."

Ino openly glared at her, removing Temari's hand from the papers. She refused to be pushed around by the girl who had already stolen so much from her.

"Fine. But whatever you have to say, make it quick."

Temari looked taken aback for a moment, then her face settled into a smug smirk. "Well, the princess has turned into an ice queen, it seems. Fine, I'll make this short."

Temari paused, her face undergoing strange contortions as she searched for what to say.

"Look, just what is going on between you and Shikamaru?"

Ino found herself more than a little stunned by the question. Shouldn't that be what _she_ was asking Temari, not the other way around?

"We're teammates. Sometimes friends, though I don't even know about that some time." Ino said wryly.

Temari snorted indelicately. "Are you serious?"

Ino looked at her incredulously. Was the girl completely blind? It had been clear to Ino for some time that Shikamaru obviously had no interest in her outside of a friendly relationship.

"Do you think I'm an idiot or something?" Temari continued, her voice cracking slightly. "Why else would I get invited to the wedding, only to have him tell me that a long distance relationship is 'too troublesome?'"

She spoke the last phrase with particular disdain, but Ino was slowly beginning to realize that the sarcasm and barbed remarks weren't aimed at her directly. They were a form of lashing out… but against what?

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about." Ino said plainly, moving away to tend to some of the flowers on the far side of the shop. Temari remained at the desk.

"Come on, princess. You've known him longer than practically anyone. Even if you don't have anything to do with this – a point I'm still not sold on – you should at least have some idea of what this means."

From where Temari stood, it looked as though Ino had gone completely still; only her shoulders moved, making it look as though she was sobbing.

"Hey, I didn't mean—"

She stopped midsentence, suddenly realizing that a strange noise was issuing from the girl, and it wasn't sobbing.

Ino turned around, tears of mirth streaming down her face. She clutched her stomach as she leaned back against the counter, attempting to catch her breath. When she managed to stop shaking with laughter, she attempted to speak.

"You think _I_ understand Konoha's resident lazy genius? I don't think his own parents even know what's going through that boy's head." She shook her head, smiling at Temari sardonically. "Certainly not me."

Temari eyed her, her dark green eyes narrowing shrewdly. For a moment, Ino thought Temari was considering tearing her into pieces, but the sudden glimpse of murderous hatred vanished and was replaced by a look of sheer confusion, which to Ino's well trained eye, disguised hurt.

The irony of her situation made Ino slightly more sympathetic to the girl, as much as she didn't like her.

"Look, I—"

Temari waved her off disdainfully, moving swiftly toward the door. She looked as though she was going to leave without so much as exchanging a farewell, but she paused in the sill, steadying a hand against it.

"Maybe you're right, and you don't have anything to do with this. Or maybe you're just too lost in your own little world to see what's right in front of you. But whatever the case, just… don't screw it up, okay, princess?"

Temari didn't wait for a reply, leaving as quietly as she had come.

Ino stared after her, head swimming in spite of the medicine she had taken. She finished with the last of the flowers and closed the shop up early.

This whole day had seemed like some strange kind of dream, and Ino was in no mood to tolerate it any longer. She went home and holed herself up in her room, not even bothering to speak to her parents on the way in. For the third time that week, she collapsed into bed without changing, but she didn't sleep.

Instead, she considered her options.

She ran scenarios in her head for as long as she could. She mentally explored every conceivable option, trying to find any way to avoid getting herself hurt, and acting even more foolishly than she already had, but in the end, she always settled in the same place. Every path she considered led to one unfortunate conclusion.

She would have to go and talk to him, and get this settled once and for all.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Short, again, I know, but longer than the last chapter. The next one will likely be a monster of a chapter, so be prepared. _

_As for why this publication is neither huge nor many chapters like I promised, it's because I'm still on vacation. But I got inspired and had to write a little in the down time I had, so here it is. I should be returning to a semi-regular schedule after this next weekend hopefully. _

_Also, since I am seldom absent for such a lengthy period of time, I'd like to pose a question to you, the readers. What do _you_ think the conversation between Inoichi and Shikamaru was actually about? I'm interested to know what you all think. As always, thank you for your incredibly kind reviews and I wish you all continued happy reading! :)_

_- Senka_


	11. Jasmine

The disjointed click of tiles across the Shogi board was the only sound aside from the subdued bubbling noises of brewing tea. The tea house, filled with the smell of jasmine tea, was nearly empty, not surprising for a slow Sunday afternoon. Ino was still surprised, however, to have found him here at all.

Shikamaru seemed to be so absorbed in his strategizing that he failed to notice her entrance. The sight of him, lost in his own world, kindled a warm glow in Ino, and she fought down a grin just watching him. Ever since Asuma-sensei died, this had become a habit of his; rather than simply meditating on strategies, he spent hours agonizing over the Shogi board, his hands moving almost of their own accord like some feverish, uncontrollable tic.

Ino let the sight burn into her eyelids a few moments longer, admiring the singular attention he paid to the task in front of him, the way his entire bearing was tensed in concentration.

Reluctantly, she cleared her throat, stepping toward him purposefully. He didn't appear to have heard, because he didn't look up. Ino frowned, clearing her throat a bit more loudly.

This still managed to elicit no response. She scoffed and crossed her arms, staring at him fixedly. His head tilted ever so slightly toward her, his dark eyes cutting over to regard her with skepticism.

"Did you need something, Ino?"

Seeing his response as sufficient confirmation that she had his attention, Ino dropped down to occupy the chair across from him, folding her arms across the tabletop.

"We need to talk, Shikamaru."

His smile was so sarcastic as to almost be mocking, though he didn't meet her eyes. "That hasn't really been working out for us lately."

"Well, now it's got to." Ino replied, not bothering to mask her exasperation. The impatience in her voice must have been enough to command Shikamaru's full interest, because he set the tile he had been about to move back down where it had previously been and folded his hands in front of his face.

"Troublesome, but alright."

Ino hesitated, wondering where she should even begin. She settled on something which wouldn't quite broach the topic she had been tiptoeing around for weeks, but would at least satisfy a source of curiosity.

"Let's start with this. What were you doing at my house this morning? If you and my father think that such a lame excuse was going to fool me, you're less of a genius than you seem."

At this, Shikamaru leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck agitatedly. "Your dad had something he needed to talk to me about. It's not up to me to inform you. If you really want to know, ask him."

Ino slammed her hand on the table and stood, sending several of the Shogi pieces flying. "Shikamaru Nara, don't you start that with me!"

She leaned over the table, staring him down. "You may be afraid of what my father would do if he knew you told me, but you should be more afraid of what _I_ will do if you _don't _tell me. You wouldn't be skating around the subject unless it was classified or unless it had to do with me. If it was classified, you wouldn't be sitting at my breakfast table talking about it, so it must have been about me. Now _spill._"

Shikamaru let out an exasperated sigh, and looked her in straight in the eye, about to offer an explanation, but when he opened his mouth, he faltered slightly. Ino wondered at the response for a moment, but then she realized how incredibly close her face was to his. The tip of her nose hovered literally mere inches from his own, and he was staring at her with that same strange expression from this morning, that odd, unguarded look of puzzlement.

Her anger wavered, and she was suddenly aware of every breath she was taking.

"Shika—"

"_NARUTO_!"

The familiar shriek brought Ino out of her reverie, and both she and Shikamaru turned to look out the door in the direction from which the scream had issued. They exchanged curious looks and, conversation all but entirely forgotten, rushed out the door to find the source of the commotion.

Not far down the road directly in front of Ichiraku's, an easily recognizable blond figure was lying face-up in the middle of the path, with a pink-haired girl frozen over him with a look of horror, mixed with tinges of guilt and apprehension, on her face. A small crowd was gathered around, brought out of the surrounding shops by the commotion. When they saw the hero of Konoha was involved, they found all the more reason to stay and watch the situation unfold.

Noticing the approach of Shikamaru and Ino, Sakura's mouth fell open in an attempt to explain, but she could only gesture uselessly at Naruto where he laid, completely unconscious, a growing lump forming in plain sight on his forehead.

Shikamaru was the first to reach them, and he looked between Naruto and Sakura with strangled amusement written across his face.

"What happened?"

Sakura was practically hysterical, and she looked desperately at Ino as she tried to spit out an explanation.

"He asked me to get ramen with him… I refused, but he insisted… he said I had to get this specific kind… then the next thing I knew, there it was… and he was grinning like an idiot, and he said something like 'I can't imagine how that got in there. Must be meant for someone else.' But then he picked it up and oh Kami, I was so surprised that I punched him! Oh Kami, Ino, what have I done?"

Ino stared at her best friend for a few moments, trying to make some semblance of sense out of the jumbled account. She was still on the "there it was" when a strange noise met her ears, and she turned to her left to find Shikamaru shaking with laughter. She opened her mouth to ask what was so funny, but then she caught sight of something glimmering in Sakura's hand and the chaotic explanation suddenly made perfect sense.

Ino's eyes widened and Shikamaru let out a genuine chuckle, shaking his head as he looked down at Naruto, who seemed to be coming around slowly.

"Oh Kami…" Ino stared at Sakura's palm, where a delicate gold ring glinted in the afternoon sun.

"S-Sakura-chan?" Naruto said feebly, groaning as he rolled over onto his side and coughed weakly. Sakura remained frozen, staring at the object in her hand as though she hadn't even heard Naruto.

Shikamaru, still fighting off the remnants of his fit of laughter, held out a hand to help Naruto up. The blonde stood up unsteadily, swaying slightly as he regained his footing, looking at Sakura anxiously.

"Sakura-chan?" He tried again, taking a tentative step toward her. "Maybe I shouldn't have…"

As if she had suddenly noticed his presence, Sakura's head snapped up and her hand closed around the ring, her expression softening. "I-I…"

"I know it's kind of sudden, dattebayo. But I really love you, Sakura-chan. I always have."

Ino was so caught up in the moment that she didn't even realize she was holding her breath, waiting for Sakura's response to Naruto's sincere declaration, until Shikamaru touched her shoulder lightly.

"If you keep holding your breath, you'll pass out, and I'll be the one who has to deal with this troublesome mess." He murmured quietly, and Ino let out a breath, embarrassed.

Sakura flushed at Naruto's words, her green eyes flicking nervously between her hand and Naruto's face.

"I…" She opened the hand with the ring and used her other hand to grab one of his, molding his fingers so that they would support the ring, which she placed delicately back in his care.

For a moment, Naruto looked completely crestfallen, but then his expression wavered as he noticed the radiant smile that had suddenly come over Sakura.

"Well, I can't say yes unless you propose properly without me knocking you out."

Naruto let out a whoop of delight, not even bothering to slip the ring onto her finger before he grabbed Sakura around the waist and kissed her.

For a moment, Sakura pushed him away, a look of annoyance on her face. But then, grabbing the hand that was holding the ring, she pushed it onto her finger and proceeded to pull him back into a kiss that was even more passionate.

Ino covered her hands with her mouth, giggling with relief. She looked over at Shikamaru who, though he was shaking his head, was still smiling slightly as he watched the two of them.

"Who would have thought? The genius of the Hidden Leaf is a bit of a romantic." She taunted him quietly.

He turned, raising an eyebrow teasingly and giving Ino an exasperatingly wry grin. "Why would I ever be anything so troublesome?"

An uncontrollable urge came over Ino at that moment, of the same variety as the one which had gotten her into this whole mess in the first place. If a hand hadn't fallen on her shoulder at that very moment, Ino would have been sorely tempted to kiss that smug look right off of Shikamaru's face.

"Ino!"

As it was, Sakura had excellent timing –or very bad timing, according to the part of Ino's brain that seemed to be controlled solely by her hormones.

Ino grinned at her friend, throwing her arms around Sakura to hug her. "Who would have thought you'd be the first to be getting married, Forehead?"

Sakura laughed, pulling back to clasp Ino's hands excitedly. "Not me, Ino-pig. Now, come on. We have a lot of people to tell and even more planning to do."

She grabbed Ino's hand and began to drag her away, babbling about all the preparations that would need to be made, and who got priority as far as being informed of the impending wedding went. Ino gestured feebly back at where Naruto and Shikamaru were still standing, vainly attempting to get Sakura's attention.

Her desperate look was caught by Shikamaru, who gave her a casual shrug and a look that said 'I told you talking doesn't seem to work well for us.'

Ino sighed, but let herself be dragged away.

What was one more ruined attempt at understanding when it was added to the ever-growing pile of lost opportunities?

* * *

><p>Inoichi was unsurprised when a knock sounded at the door late that night.<p>

Ino had only been home briefly earlier, carrying with her the news of the village hero's impending wedding to the Hokage's apprentice. She had spouted the information as quickly as possible before rushing back out the door, hurried along by the bride-to-be herself. Inoichi didn't expect her to be returning any time soon.

The knock at the door was the same tired rhythm as the knock which had graced the door earlier in the day. Shikamaru Nara didn't offer much aside from a cursory greeting as he entered, taking a seat at the table once more.

Inoichi finished preparing himself a cup of tea before he sat down facing the boy. For a long moment, neither man spoke.

"I think we should be able to finish our discussion." Inoichi finally began. "Based on what we discussed this morning, there is very little left to be said."

Shikamaru clasped his hands in front of him, an almost imperceptible sign of agitation from the stoic Nara. "So you've considered what I had to say?"

Inoichi nodded slowly, setting his cup down carefully on the tabletop.

"I think you make good points, boy. And I've seen evidence that what you say is true, though my guess is good as anyone where that girl is concerned."

Shikamaru shifted slightly in his seat, speaking slowly so as not to seem overeager.

"So then you'll agree to it?"

Inoichi's eyes narrowed, and it struck Shikamaru in full force that this man, crippled though he might be, was fully capable of turning his mind inside-out if he so chose. He swallowed, but kept his gaze firm under Inoichi's scrutiny.

"I will agree. But keep in mind that my decision is not the deciding factor, boy. You still have quite a bit to prove."

Shikamaru nodded solemnly. "I know, sir."

Inoichi gave a genuine smile and stood. Shikamaru did likewise, bowing his head respectfully to the older man. He moved toward the door and had his hand on the handle before Inoichi's voice rumbled again from the other side of the room.

"And keep in mind…" His tone was not overtly hostile, but managed to maintain a threatening air nonetheless. "… you'd better think long and hard before you do anything that might hurt her."

Shikamaru's mouth quirked in a half-grin, recalling similar warning words from Ino that afternoon. Inoichi's wrath may not have been the only thing he had to worry about, but it was certainly something to take into consideration.

"Of course, sir."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Okay, I have to admit, this was one of my favorite chapters to write. The whole Naruto-Sakura proposal scene came to me kind of spur-of-the-moment, but it had me cracking up while I was writing it. I can just see things going that way between the two of them... ^_^ They have such an interesting dynamic as a couple._

_And the plot thickens, no? Will Shikamaru and Ino EVER actually get to talk? Tune in next time to find out! (Rereading that last phrase, I definitely heard it in Rocky and Bullwinkle style narration. XD)_

_Anywho, reviews are loved, I plan to update again soon, and I hope you all are enjoying it!_


	12. Iris

_Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Sadly._

* * *

><p>Sakura spun around in front of the mirror, biting her lip anxiously.<p>

"Well?"

Ino cast a glance at her friend from where she sat at the window. The dress Sakura currently wore was her mother's wedding dress, altered to a simple, sleeveless style with a tapered waist. The skirt flowed straight down from the waist before flaring slightly around the ankles for easier movement. The dress couldn't have been better suited for Sakura, but she seemed to be slightly unclear on that point.

"Sakura, I've told you three times already, it looks gorgeous. Honestly, I don't know why you're so worked up about this."

Sakura shot a glare back at her friend. She walked over to where Ino had turned back to look out the window and hit her on the shoulder, causing Ino to whip around, startled. "What was that for?"

"For not paying attention!" Sakura turned back to the mirror, fingering the neckline of the dress nervously. "Everything just has to be perfect."

Ino let out a drawn out sigh. "Sakura. You're being a little ridiculous about this. And _I_ of all people would know. Seriously, Naruto would probably be just as happy if you showed up in a paper bag."

That offhanded comment was met with an even more ferocious glare.

"You know what I meant!" Ino protested huffily. "I just mean that he'll be happy, regardless of whether everything if perfect or whether it's a complete disaster, because he's marrying the girl he's been in love with forever."

That reminder seemed to calm Sakura somewhat and she sat down on her bed, careful not to wrinkle the skirt of the dress.

"I'm marrying Naruto." She whispered, her voice trembling with exhilaration and trepidation.

Ino gave her a small grin in response. "You did accept the ring."

Sakura covered her mouth with her hands, propping her elbows on her knees, but it didn't disguise the smile that reached all the way up to her eyes. "Yeah, I did."

Ino looked at her best friend. She was practically glowing in the dress that she would be getting married in, as she stared at the ring on her hand with a pensive smile.

Images of a crying little girl, flowers and a red ribbon flashed across Ino's mind for a moment, and the feeling of motionlessness overtook her all at once. All at once, life was rushing right past her and, once again, she was standing in the middle of it all. The lone spectator, it seemed.

When had they grown up this much?

"So did you talk to him?"

Ino tilted her head, blinking at Sakura with feigned confusion. "Naruto? What would I need to talk to him about?"

Her attempt at diversion didn't hold up underneath Sakura's skeptically questioning gaze. It was the one that distinctly said "I-know-you're-not-that-stupid-Ino-pig-now-tell-me."

"Almost." Ino admitted reluctantly, twisting a strand of blonde hair around her index finger anxiously. The recollection of their close encounter in the tea shop was still making her stomach do flips. "We were in the middle of talking yesterday when we heard the commotion from Ichiraku's."

"Oh." Sakura's eyes widened slightly as she realized her role in ending that conversation. "Well, are you going to try to talk to him again?"

"Do I really have a choice?" Ino sighed. "Now that I've started, I can't very well just act like we never had the conversation in the first place. Genius boy certainly won't forget about it." She scowled slightly. "I swear, he has a memory like a steel trap."

Sakura shrugged as she stood and began to rummage through her dresser drawer, picking out a few pieces of jewelry here and there. "No time like the present."

"Now?"

Sakura ignored the incredulous look that Ino shot her. "Go find him now. The longer you wait, the worse it's going to get."

"But…" Ino protested weakly, "the wedding! I know it might be a while away, but I'd hate to be another source of anxiety…"

"So you would rather just have this tension between the two of you in the middle of the wedding than have it at least resolved?" Sakura finished.

Ino wrinkled her nose, but she stood and moved to the door nonetheless.

"Maybe I _should_ create problems, Billboard Brow." She stuck her tongue out.

Sakura responded in kind as Ino walked out the door, calling down the hall after her. "Stop being a chicken, Ino-pig. I expect to hear results the next time I see you!"

* * *

><p>Ino admired the irises that were blooming along the path to the Nara residence. The bright purple stood out in contrast to the simple earth tones of the surrounding buildings, making them seem all more vibrant as a consequent.<p>

Really, though, the sight of them was just a distraction from the growing heaviness inside of her as she approached the location where she might find Shikamaru. It seemed that broaching the subject in the first place, even though it was a step in the right direction, hadn't really made this process any easier.

She stopped in the middle of the path, hesitating. It was the middle of the day. What if Shikamaru's mother was home? Or worse, Shikaku? If he was there to witness that conversation, Ino was positive her father would know about it in short order.

And what would he think? Certainly, the Nara and Yamanaka clans had developed close ties over the years, but would he approve of this? Worse still, if things went badly, would she be the one solely responsible for ruining relations between the two clans?

That was not a particularly encouraging thought.

Fortunately enough, her problem was solved for her.

"Oi, Ino."

Shikamaru approached at his usual leisurely pace, as though they had nothing important to talk about. Ino resisted the urge to mess with her hair nervously, settling instead with an annoyed expression, crossing her arms impatiently.

"Hurry up, old man! I'm not going to stand here all day."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, stopping in front of her. "And here I thought we might actually stand a chance of having a civilized conversation."

Ino scoffed. "Based on what prior evidence?"

"Hmm." Shikamaru smirked. "Fair enough."

"Now." Ino found the words coming out of her mouth before she even had time to think, which may have been for the best. "You still have a bit of explaining to do from where we left off in our last conversation."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything and started walking back the way Ino had originally come. Ino had no choice but to follow him.

"You can't just decide not to answer!" She protested, catching his arm to stop him. "I need to know."

Shikamaru stopped, but he didn't remove her hand from his arm. He seemed fixated on some point in the distance, and when he didn't answer immediately, Ino redirected her gaze to match his.

Against the cliffs that surrounded Konoha, the old Hokage monument stood bold against the new construction of the village, like a last testament to the old peace of their Academy years. Below, the Hokage's residence sat in its stately authority. Ino could still remember the first time she had stared up at the monument, so young and full of hope. She wondered what Shikamaru thought when he stared at those faces, whether he saw peacemakers or the orchestrators of war. Anymore, Ino wasn't sure which she saw.

"I have something more important to discuss first." He finally answered, his gaze still locked on the spectacle. "I'm leaving."

Ino's hand on his arm tightened reflexively. He had to drop a bomb like this on her now? What was she going to do? She hadn't even told him yet and now… now, he was _leaving_? "What? You can't just…"

"Temporarily." He added, shrugging slightly. "Tsunade-sama's assigned me to a team for an A-rank mission that will take at least two weeks."

Ino slapped his arm hard, turning away from him with exaggerated irritation. "Baka. You don't say something like that without qualifying it!"

Her anger was met by a derisive snort, and though she couldn't see his face, she could practically hear his smirk widening as he spoke, which only made her more frustrated.

"You act like you'd be worried or something. Che. You were troublesome before, but recently you've just been acting downright crazy."

That was more than enough to set Ino over the edge. Even though it hadn't at all been Shikamaru's intention, all she got from his response was a short dismissal of everything she was and what she cared about.

She whirled on him, much to his surprise. "Fine, I won't worry then, baka! Go off and get yourself killed if you want! Why would a crazy person care? It obviously doesn't matter to me."

He tried to open his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. The words wouldn't cease flowing now that she had let them loose.

"Not that you care anyway. Goddamn geniuses don't think about anyone but themselves, always doing whatever reckless thing pops into their head, regardless of who might get hurt. And Kami forbid that you spend a second thinking about your teammates—"

Even as the words left her mouth, she realized she had overstepped her bounds. Shikamaru still carried wounds deeper than practically anyone realized and she had just opened them fresh to the world.

They had spoken once about his first failed mission as a Chuunin; even years later, he regretted not being able to bring Sasuke back and the lives that were almost lost. He blamed himself for every injury that occurred, for not stepping up to be the leader that he felt he needed to be. And that was not even to mention the torture he had gone through after Asuma-sensei's death.

And Ino had just dismissed those like they were nothing, shoving them back in his face with all the graceless idiocy of a stupid emotional girl.

She took a reflexive step backward, covering her mouth with her hands in horror. "Shika—"

She went silent when she looked up at his eyes, which had gone cold as stone, shining with uncontained anger as he stared back at her.

"Shut the hell up, Ino."

The words hit her as hard as if he had slapped her. She reeled, unable to yell or apologize or even let loose the tears that were congregating on her eyelashes. All attempts at talking forgotten, she turned and did the only thing she knew how to do in this situation.

* * *

><p>She was out of Shikamaru's sight before he even had time to think over what he had said to her.<p>

The genius slammed his hand into the side of the nearest building, ignoring the pain that radiated up his arm. He shook his head slowly, closing his eyes to the world as if that could block out the source of his exasperation.

"Goddamn woman."

As much as he wanted to run after her, he stopped himself, realizing that anything he did at this point would only make things worse.

Two weeks. Two weeks, and this might blow over, so he could stop being a coward and finally get things settled.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Well, I actually don't have much to say today. How odd. Anyway, you, my readers, are fantabulous and all of your reviews are so very much appreciated. You have no idea. Hope you all have an absolutely wonderful day and thanks so much for reading! ^_^_

_- Senka_


	13. Primrose

"Just a couple should be fine." Ino motioned to the vegetables on the far end of the stand, barely paying attention to what she was doing.

The past few days had slipped by at a trickling speed, a haze of color and sound. Ino had tried everything to keep herself occupied. She had taken on an extra shift at the flower shop for the previous two days, and this morning she had volunteered herself to go out to do the shopping, even though it wasn't their usual shopping day. Her mother hadn't offered much in the form of questions, just shoved her out the door with a list and some money, spouting something about having to get the house cleaned up.

Fortunately, Inoichi had been at work, or Ino probably would have had a lot more explaining to do.

From behind the stall, the dark-haired young man who was helping Ino flashed a warm smile at her as he packed away the last of the vegetables.

"Are you sure that's all, Yamanaka-san? The cucumbers that just came in are some of the best we've had in years." He motioned to the gleaming green plants at the end of the row, though it was obvious that his attention was not at all directed at the vegetables. His eyes danced over her face, hoping for one of the flirtatious remarks that usually showed up somewhere in their conversations.

But today, no such remark left her mouth. In fact, she barely looked at him as she gave her response.

"No, that's all." Ino shook her head without enthusiasm, putting the wrapped-up purchases into the bag on her shoulder. "Thanks, Minoru."

Ino walked away from the stall without even so much as a smile in his direction, and Minoru was left more than a little confused. Brushing his hands off and throwing his produce apron aside, he called to the back that he was going on break for a little while. Before he could even get a response, he dashed after the slowly receding figure of the blonde girl.

"Hey, Yamanaka-san, wait up!"

Ino stopped and turned, rummaging through her bag as Minoru approached. Had she forgotten to pay for something? Anymore, it seemed as though she was simply working on habitual memory, so it wouldn't surprise her to have done something so careless.

He slowed as he approached her, his face warming as he got closer. Any other day, Ino might have noticed what a nice smile he had or how he had run with such effortless grace that even some shinobi would be envious, but today she just waited for him to speak, her expression almost blank.

"Listen, I don't know what your schedule's like, being a kunoichi and all, but I was wondering if you might like to have dinner sometime." He stuck his hands in his pockets, his grin widening nervously. "I know you're probably busy, but you don't seem like yourself today, and I thought you might like to go out and have a good time.

"Besides," he added, "it's a real shame for someone so gorgeous to look so sad."

Regardless of her mood, Ino preened at the compliment. A small part of her, the one that normally provoked her to flirt with this very same boy when she went to the produce stand for her family, urged her ahead. After all, what could it really hurt?

The image of her angry teammate flitted across her memory, but she pushed it aside decidedly.

"Sure." She found herself saying. "How about tonight?"

The part of her that had been making her miserable for the past few days began to protest inwardly, but she bit her tongue to keep herself from retracting her question.

Minoru's smile broadened even further – he really did have a nice smile, Ino thought. He wasn't exactly her type; as evidenced by her years-long crush on Sasuke, she tended to go for the dark and brooding type. But maybe it was time for a change.

"Great! Is seven alright?"

Ino nodded. "Just come by the shop."

Feeling increasingly confident, she tilted her head and smiled at him, her green eyes sparkling almost dangerously. "I'll be looking forward to it."

With that, she turned on her heel and left, putting just a bit of extra sway into her step. The flirtatious part of her gleamed with triumph, knowing she was still on her A-game.

Still, the part of her that had so rapidly receded at the compliment gnawed at her insides, aching for someone who seemed to be far out of the reach of anything her flirtations could accomplish.

* * *

><p>Ino finished the last of the floral arrangements that had to be done for the day, then headed into the back room to wash off her hands and fix her make-up. Minoru had said he would be there at seven, which gave her about ten minutes to fix herself up.<p>

She ran her fingers under her eyes with dissatisfaction, noting the dark circles that had sprung up in the past few days. With a quick swipe of foundation, they were gotten rid of easily enough, but she could still feel them beneath a surface, like holes in a wall that had just been painted over and not really filled.

She played with a strand of hair for a moment as she looked in the mirror, only for a moment contemplating leaving it down. Somehow, it didn't seem right to do that. Even now, the memory of _him_ placing a hand over her mouth and complimenting the way her hair looked hanging loose around her shoulders… it had somehow made that his.

So Ino pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail and smoothed down a few flyaway strands around her ears, her fingers just brushing over the earrings from Asuma-sensei.

She tried not to think about how disappointed he would be if he knew how fractured this team was at this very moment. About how she couldn't keep any of her promises. Sakura seemed to have won all the way around: she was about to be promoted to Head of the Hospital and was engaged to Konoha's savior.

_So much for winning in love._

And as for keeping Choji and Shikamaru in line… well, she was doing one hell of a job with that.

"Hello?" The bell on the door rang, and Ino came out of the back, showcasing her best glowing smile, as if nothing in the world had ever been wrong.

"Let's go."

As they walked toward the restaurant, Minoru held something out to her hesitantly. Ino was surprised she hadn't noticed it before; in his hands was a prettily bound bouquet of flowers.

"I know it's kind of weird to get flowers for a girl whose family owns a flower shop," He began, laughing at himself a little. "But I thought you might like them."

Ino grinned, taking the beautiful blossoms from him. She lifted them to her nose, inhaling their scent with relish.

Then she stopped.

"Wait…" she slowly brought them away from her face, looking them over with sudden alarm.

Minoru stopped in his tracks, obviously confused. "What?"

"These… these are primroses, aren't they?" Ino tried to keep the alarm from creeping into her voice, but already she could feel her eyes watering and the skin around her nose began to itch.

"Yeah…" Minoru answered slowly, still not quite catching on. "What, do you not like them?"

Ino shoved them back into his hands, not even worried any longer about being rude. She clamped her hands over her face, trying to cover the place where the skin was already red and swollen.

"Sorry." She mumbled through her hands, hoping that her eyes at least were conveying her meaning. "I'm just really…"

She stopped, sneezing violently. Minoru jumped back, startled.

"… I'm really allergic. I've got to go."

Turning as quickly as she could, she ran back towards her house; under her hands, she could feel the swelling getting worse by the minute.

Minoru shook his head as he watched her go, staring down at the flowers in his hands in disbelief.

"If she didn't like me that much, she could have just told me." He muttered to himself, tossing the flowers over his shoulder as he began his dejected walk back toward his apartment. Pretty girls were all the same: perfectly willing to flirt with you, but it was always just leading you on.

* * *

><p>By the time Ino burst through the door of her house, she could barely catch a breath between having to run so quickly and her rapidly swelling throat.<p>

Inoichi watched with alarm as his daughter came skidding into the kitchen, motioning frantically to a swollen patch of skin that had, at one time, resembled a mouth and nose.

Fortunately for Ino, her father knew what to do in such situations.

Approximately ten minutes and quite a bit of medicine later, Ino sat at her kitchen table, looking considerable less puffy, but far more upset. Inoichi set a cup of tea down in front of her before he took a seat.

"Care to explain what happened?

Ino shrugged, taking a sip of the tea.

"There's not that much to explain, daddy. The boy from the produce shop asked me out, I agreed to go. He got me primroses, the _only _flower I'm allergic to, and—"

"Just a moment." Inoichi held up a hand, his expression suddenly growing exponentially more serious. Ino shrank before his gaze, knowing exactly which phrase he was caught on.

"Asked you out? On a date?" Inoichi's gruff voiced posed the questions evenly, but Ino could see what was brewing under the surface.

"It wasn't really a date." She muttered, staring into her tea so she didn't have to look her father in the eye. "I don't really even like him that way. I just needed to get out of the house for a little while."

"Ino…" Inoichi started slowly, his eyes narrowing as he examined her shrewdly. "Dear, is there something you need to tell me?"

Ino continued to look down at her tea, hoping against hope that he might just forget the question and move on. Even being interrogated about being asked on a date was better than that loaded silence, that expectant air that now permeated the room.

Ino shook her head slowly. Had it become so obvious to everyone? Even her father knew something was wrong.

She didn't want to admit it. Admitting it to Sakura had been bad enough, and even though it seemed like everyone knew regardless, that didn't make it any easier to handle.

But she knew that she had to fess up sometime.

"Dad…" She said slowly, hoping she wasn't just digging herself into a deeper hole.

"I think I'm in love."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Goodness, I'm tired. But I really, _really_ wanted to get this update done today, because I feel like I've been neglecting my stories for the past few weeks. So here it is! Thank you once again for all the reviews, sorry for the shortness of the chapter, and I sincerely hope you're enjoying reading this little fic! _

_Bit of a cliffhanger though, huh? I wonder how Inoichi will react to his daughter's honesty... who knows? ^_^_

_- Senka Hitomi_


	14. Day Lily

There was silence in the kitchen for a long time, and Ino watched her father, growing increasingly afraid. No expression crossed his face, not the faintest glimmer of anger or disappointment or _anything_.

"I mean…" She started to qualify, twisting a strand of her hair nervously. "I think so. I'm not really sure and it's—"

Inoichi held up a hand, and Ino immediately fell silent. She watched as his hand slowly fell back to the surface of the table, settling back with a solid thump. His green eyes were focused somewhere far in the distance, as though he were manipulating one of his techniques.

The moment of silence stretched so long that Ino feared that the dining room table might break from the sheer weight of unspoken thought that hung in the air. It occurred to Ino at that point that perhaps she had just done the most foolhardy thing she had ever concocted in her entire life, and there were some decent contenders for that title, one of them being the action which had instigated all of this.

What if her father didn't approve of all of this? Certainly, Inoichi and Shikaku were old friends, but there were all sorts of problems that might arise from a relationship between their children. Come to think of it, Ino wasn't really sure _what_ her father thought of Shikamaru.

Of course, on the opposite side of things, what if her father _did _approve and Shikamaru still wanted absolutely nothing to do with her when he returned from his mission? If that was the case, who knows what Inoichi would do? None of the things which immediately sprang to mind –all of which involved Inoichi exacting retribution for his slighted daughter— were ideas Ino particularly cared to consider.

Ino thought about the two possibilities, growing sicker by the minute as she stared anywhere but her father's face, trying as hard as she could to avoid that penetrating green stare that had now settled on her.

"Ino."

She looked up instinctively, fearing the worst. But as her gaze finally came to rest reluctantly on his face, the expression she was met with was none of the ones she had been expecting.

Her father had a sardonic half-smile plastered on his face, and he looked almost as though he were on the verge of laughter.

"Well, it took you long enough to say so."

Ino's jaw dropped slightly as she regarded this man, the one who had seemed to be so oblivious, with fresh incredulity as he began to chuckle.

"You think this is funny?" She practically screeched, her nails biting into the surface of the table where she rested her hand on it. "You, the man who has been overly protective of me for my entire life, who wouldn't _dream _of letting any boy who was less than worthy near his precious daughter, think this is _funny_? What kind of—"

"Ino!" Inoichi held up his hands in protest, laughing all the harder at her outburst. "Dear, calm down. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the fact that you and all of your generation seem to think that even though you're grown, your doddering old parents seem to have not the faintest idea of what's going on in your lives. We were young once too, you know."

Ino's jaw clicked shut, but she continued to stare at her father with a slightly wounded air.

"Fine. If you think you're so knowledgeable, to whom am I referring?" She gave him a challenging look, which was met with another amused smile. That only served to infuriate her further.

Her father took a sip of his tea before answering with the assured confidence of a mind reader. Somewhere in the back of Ino's head, it occurred to her that perhaps her father's interrogation techniques extended outside of the department on occasion.

"I'm the Hokage if it's not that Nara boy." Inoichi answered seriously, reflecting back the same challenging look that dared her to defy him.

Ino had almost expected him to be lying about this knowledge that he supposedly have, so her reaction to his words was bumbling, to say the least. She opened her mouth to contradict him, but the words didn't come; the sudden burning red color that had come into her face had already said enough for her.

She blinked down at her tea, all pretenses of defensiveness gone.

"So it's really that obvious?"

Inoichi settled back into his chair. All traces of laughter fell away from his voice as he watched his normally self-assured daughter, cowed under the weight of her own feelings.

"Ino dear, I may be only an oblivious man at times, but even I can tell when there is something wrong with my daughter, and I can recognize the symptoms of love when I see them."

"But how did you know—?"

"… that it was him?" Inoichi finished. "Well, I didn't figure it out nearly as quickly as I would have liked, but after a talk with Shikaku, I was fairly certain of it."

Ino's expression fell even further.

"His _father _knows?" Her head sank onto the table, folded into her arms with a groan.

Inoichi stood up slowly, adjusting his knee before walking over to crouch down next to his daughter, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Seeing what he was doing, Ino immediately forgot her embarrassment.

"Daddy, you don't need to be doing that! You'll hurt your leg even worse and—"

Her father stopped her, shaking his head.

"I'm alright. But I want you to listen to me."

He waited for Ino to confirm she was listening, which she finally did, though not without a few insistent glances at his knee.

"Now, I'm not sure that I approve of what this boy seems to have put you through, but I know my little girl. And I know she won't give up without a fight. If this is what makes you happy, I expect you, as a Yamanaka, not to give up. If—"

The rest of his sentence was cut off by an urgent knock at the front door. After helping her father stand back up, Ino sprang to the door, opening it to find a breathless Sakura standing on the step.

"Ino, we need your help at the hospital. We've just gotten an injury report from an incoming mission and all available hands have been requested to treat the wounded."

Sakura leaned around Ino, directing her next set of statements at Inoichi. "Yamanaka-san, you're needed at Intel right away. They've recovered one of the rogue-nin for interrogation."

Not bothering with so much as a goodbye, Sakura rushed off toward the hospital.

Ino turned back to her father, and she saw the same thoughts running through her head reflected back in his own expression: the rest of their discussion would have to be saved for later.

Grabbing only the supplies that were necessary, Ino rushed out the door, all thoughts of love temporarily suspended by the reality of the shinobi world.

* * *

><p>The week that followed was pure hell. When Ino wasn't at the hospital treating the shinobi from that mission, almost all of whom had been near-fatally wounded, she was pulling shifts at the Intel division, helping her father to sort through the mess that was the information they'd managed to glean from the rogue-nin before a toxin in his blood had made him useless to them.<p>

It seemed that the poison had begun taking its effect even before they'd gotten him back to the division; his thoughts had been jumbled together in a haze of disconnected memories, all of which had to be combed through with precision just in case one of them might be concealing some miniscule shred of evidence at what had prompted the attack.

By the time Ino returned home in the evenings, she was often too exhausted to eat, much less think about anything else. Her life became a blur of chakra probing, sorting information and sleep, punctuated by the occasional necessity of checking stock in the flower shop.

Tending the flower shop, which normally helped to calm Ino in times of stress, ended up being just another source of frustration. For some reason, the shipment of day lily bulbs they had ordered had come up short, and it took several hours of meticulous searching –hours that Ino _didn't_ have—to figure out what had happened. In the end, they just had to start from scratch, counting out all the stock and reordering what hadn't been included. By the end of it all, Ino was so tired that at one point she woke up after a night of working on the accounts _still_ slumped over the desk in the shop, not having even made it back home before she fell asleep.

When the chaos finally died down and things began to settle back into a normal routine, Ino wasn't even sure what day of the week it was, much less how much time had passed. Only after a full day of sleep to relieve her exhaustion did it occur to her to glance at the calendar and realize that it was now exactly two weeks and a day past the date that Shikamaru had been scheduled to return.

At first, she told herself that she was likely just being paranoid. It was an A-rank mission after all, and he had said two weeks _at the least_; he couldn't be expected to be able to control that. But as it wore into the second day, Ino found herself growing even more on edge. The Intel division hadn't received any information regarding it, and though that wasn't unusual, it still bothered Ino.

It wasn't until the third day on a regular shift at the hospital that Ino finally heard something useful regarding the mission.

One of the chief medics approached Ino, asking her to prepare three rooms for the incoming survivors of a four-man squad sent on an A-rank mission. The glacial fear that gripped her as he described the mission, which had been started approximately two weeks before, was enough to render her almost immobile, but somehow her tongue fought around it, and she managed to squeeze out the question that she almost didn't want to ask.

"Have we received the names of the survivors yet?"

The medic flipped through his charts and Ino felt a glimmer of hope, but the medic shook his head as he looked back up at her.

"I'm afraid not. Even the information that Intelligence got regarding the details of the mission was only cursory. They didn't seem to have the time or opportunity to give a detailed report. I suppose we'll find out when they come in this afternoon."

With that, the chief medic left the room. Ino sunk into a chair next to the cot she had just been preparing, her heart beating out of control in her chest.

A four-man squad, deployed two weeks prior on an A-rank mission. And one of them hadn't survived.

The possibility that it might be him was more than she could bear to think about; if he was dead, and the last thing she'd done was scold him?

She shook the thoughts out of her head and went back to resupplying the rooms, but the worry hung in the back of her mind like a persistent shadow, tainting every other thought that passed through her head.

The remaining hours of that afternoon were perhaps some of the longest Ino had ever experienced.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Sorry for the late update. The next one may be somewhat late as well, mostly due to writer's block and an insane schedule, but I will do my utmost to make it prompt. _

_Thank you for the lovely reviews/favorites/story-alerts. Glad to know you all are enjoying this little story. _

_- Senka_


	15. Nightshade

It was well on its way to evening by the time the injured patients began to trickle into the hospital. The first to be treated was an older man, at least by shinobi standards; he was perhaps a bit younger than Ino's father, but despite his age, his injuries were relatively minor. Ino helped to treat the preliminary wounds, but then was sent on an errand by one of the chief medics to pick up some additional supplies from the laboratories. According to the reports the hospital was now receiving, the treatment of the remaining two living patients from the unit would be nowhere near as simple as the treatment of their comrade.

Ino ticked the first patient off the list she'd started in her head. One of four. No bodies yet, but no sign of Shikamaru either. The prospect of worse injuries made her cold with fear, but somehow she kept her legs moving, speaking clearly and calmly to the lab technicians who had access to the supplies she needed. She brought them back quickly, finding upon her arrival that the second of the patients had been admitted to the hospital. It took all of her strength to make herself read the name when she looked down at the chart they handed her.

Female. The profile of the patient was distinctly one of a woman, and she felt her heart sink a little further in her chest. That sinking feeling had to be quickly washed away, though; the medics needed her help in surgery. The preparation seemed to be a blur to her, but all traces of fear were erased when she entered the operating room.

This girl was considerably younger than their last patient, but her wounds were extensive and they ran deep, extending beyond mere flesh wounds into the delicate networks of chakra. Several of her main chakra receptors were damaged almost to the point of irreparability. Ino quelled the shaking in her hands, focusing every ounce of her concentration on reconnecting the delicate links with all the precision she'd gained from her training in recent years.

The meticulousness required by the procedure meant that it took a considerable care to execute, so by the time Ino had finished the specific connections she needed to repair, five hours had passed. The medics exited the operating room exhausted, but the surgery had been successful. The girl was still in critical condition, but, for the moment, she was stable.

Ino washed her hands outside, smiling occasionally at her comrades as they passed her and offering congratulations on a successful surgery, but her mind had already turned back to the remaining two squad members. One alive, but in critical condition, the other well and truly dead… Ino tried to get her mind past the block that seemed to form every time she attempted to think about the possibility that the latter might be _him_, but she was redirected every time, unable to face the reality that everything she had felt and been incapable of expressing might be wasted in just a few short hours.

The hospital was beginning to quiet down as the night deepened. A few medics moved between rooms, checking on patients, but Ino was left to sit and wait, off-duty until she'd had at least an hour of recuperation from the surgery. One of her colleagues suggested that she go home and get some sleep, but Ino politely declined, giving the excuse that she wanted to be around in case any extra patients came in from a mission. The other half of that truth that she neglected to mention, however, was that even if she'd _wanted _to go home, she wasn't sure she could make herself leave this building until she saw that he was here safe or…

Or…

The mental block sprang up again, and she shook her head, hanging it between her hands. She must have been more tired than she had originally thought, because in what seemed like the next instant –despite the fact that it had been a full fifteen minutes— she was startled by a door banging open at the end of the hallway. A team of medics poured out, not speaking to one another or even looking one another in the eye. Ino jumped up, knowing _exactly_ what that meant. She searched frantically for a familiar face, finally spotting a flash of pink hair near the back of the group.

She caught Sakura by the shoulders; the look of defeat in her green eyes was all the confirmation Ino needed.

"What…"

"The last of the surviving patients from the four-man squad." Sakura threw a weary hand over her shoulder back toward the operating room she had just exited. "We were so close, but he…"

She trailed off, shrugging at Ino with sad resignation.

Even though the words were heavy as lead on her tongue, Ino forced them out of her mouth.

"Who was it?"

"One of the senior Jounin from the Interrogation unit. I don't remember his name."

Ino bit the inside of her cheek until she thought it would bleed.

"And the one that didn't survive… has the body been brought back?"

Sakura gestured listlessly at the double doors at the end of the hallway.

"I heard they recovered it quickly enough for the coroners to examine it. We're still not sure who did this, so they have to search the body for clues." She sighed, running a hand through her hair, which was now falling out of its messy bun. "I've got to go sit down. I'll see you around, Ino."

Sakura's footsteps receded down the corridor, and Ino was left alone in the hallway, her senses overwhelmed by the resonant silence and the intense aroma of antiseptic. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her thoughts, but they just wouldn't come together.

Four-man squad, two survivors, two dead. She'd seen the two survivors; Sakura hadn't known the one who had died in surgery, which only left one body.

_One person_ who that body could possibly be.

Down the hall, two doors opened, and Ino recognized two of the coroners, their faces solemn as they left the room. She only heard a snatch of the conversation, but it was enough.

"...poison, certainly. We need to get one of the experts up to the lab to identify it, but I'd bet money that it's a belladonna derivation."

"So young." The other murmured. "And unexpected too. I wouldn't want to be the one to tell the family that their only son..."

They turned the corner, passing out of hearing range.

The pain started as a dull ache, like someone had lodged a rolled up paper bomb in her throat. She couldn't make herself walk through those double doors, couldn't see who might be lying on that cold slab of marble.

Ino walked down the hallway, her steps out of rhythm, as though one of her legs had suddenly become much heavier than the other. Her vision blurred in front of her, but it wasn't from tears. A haze had settled over her; she was barely aware of her own consciousness as she glided toward the exit, steered solely by instinct. The cool of a night breeze broke across her form, but she didn't feel it. A light mist was settling in, leaving droplets of dew across her skin and uniform, but it didn't faze her. Even when her hair came loose from its messy updo and fell around her shoulders, she barely registered it. She felt utterly numb, unable to come to grips with the term that _he was gone_.

She didn't know when exactly the tears started. They simply began flooding out, no sobs, not even a sniffle, just the silent drip of water as it was funneled down her cheeks onto the pavement, the stiff fabric of her uniform, the tangles of her hair. She kept walking, not bothering to look where she was going. If she just kept walking, maybe eventually she would find what she needed, though she didn't have the faintest idea of what that was.

Meanwhile, the voice in the back of her head berated her endlessly, hitting her with a barrage of chastisements for every mistake she'd made.

'Stupid, stupid girl. You loved him, so you yelled at him. You wanted him to be safe, but instead of showing concern, you let your fear get the best of you. What if you had told him about it, would that have made him stay? You might have been the reason his life was saved instead of this hollow emptiness. Was _this_ what you wanted?'

"It wasn't." she whispered, her vocal cords only managing half the syllables through her tears.

She sank onto the curb, her chest aching as the sobs finally broke free, quiet and utterly hopeless.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Relatively short chapter, for various reasons that include but are not limited to being swamped in work, lack of inspiration, etc. The ideas for my writing haven't exactly been coming together well recently. Hope this chapter wasn't too much of a disappointment, and I'll try to get the next chapter out very soon. It'll be worth it, trust me. As always, thank you for reading!_

_- Senka Hitomi_


	16. Morning Glory

_A/N: I'm putting my author's note at the beginning today, because I feel I should apologize. I'm not going to try to make excuses, because there is no excuse for taking this long on an update. Suffice it to say, an extraordinary case of writer's block and "I-really-don't-want-to-screw-up-this-very-important-scene" syndrome may have been involved. Regardless, I hope it was worth the wait. _

_Secondly..._ 100 reviews. O.o_ You, my dear readers and reviewers, are simply fantastic. I'm so excited to have hit that little milestone, and I simply cannot fully express my gratitude for those of you who continue to read and enjoy this fic. __ Thank you so very much. ^_^_

_Once again, sorry for the insanely late update, and as always, I wish you happy reading!_

* * *

><p>"Ino."<p>

Every thought and action was suspended in that moment, and Ino's eyes went wide. At first, she couldn't dare to believe it was any more than her imagination: it must be simply a manifestation of her exhaustion, both physical and emotional.

"Ino."

The voice persisted. Just the sound of it, his familiar voice – tired and thick and slightly husky from the months he'd smoked – was enough to send a chill spiraling up her spine.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust as they searched for his figure among the shadows that surrounded him. When he stepped forward into the light and her gaze finally focused, she couldn't draw her eyes away from him.

His pale skin was washed whiter by the strains of light emanating from the full moon, and his onyx eyes were made even darker by the cavernous black circles beneath them. Though he had only been gone for a little over two weeks, he looked noticeably thinner, his clothes hanging loose in places they hadn't previously.

Despite the change to his appearance, however, the trip seemed to have brought no change to his personality. Seeing Ino's tears, he let out a prolonged sigh. Ino could practically see the thoughts forming in his head, the word "troublesome" sure to be among them, but he didn't have time to get the words out before he was practically knocked over.

Ino hit him with the full force of her strength, her arms wrapping around his neck to bring him as close to her as she possibly could. She buried her face in his neck, letting free-flowing tears soak into the fabric of his flak jacket. In the rush of relief, she didn't feel him wrap his arms tighter around her; she was too consumed by his familiar smell – that subtle hint of smoke and forest – by the solid feel of him in her arms, by the fact that he was here and _alive_. She didn't bother to mask her sobs, which were now so violent they made her whole chest ache every time one escaped. She gasped for air unashamedly, suddenly aware that the strange feeling she'd been experiencing was the same feeling a person gets after having been punched in the stomach and deprived of oxygen.

Until now, there had been no opportunity to catch her breath.

She pressed her face as close to him as she possibly could; his skin was cold to the touch from traveling through the mist. With her forehead pressed against his neck, her lips hovered near his collarbone, and it took all of the self-control that remained to her not to touch every inch of his exposed skin, reassuring herself that this wasn't some phantom of her overworked mind.

When the sobs finally died, Ino realized that he was still holding her, and the proximity sent a shock right through her. She jumped back, her reddened eyes glaring at him warily through swollen lids.

"Why didn't you send a message? Do you have any idea what you've put me through? I—"

"Che." Shikamaru cut her off with a shrug, and she thought she saw a grim smile hovering at one corner of his mouth, though it was impossible to tell in the shifting moonlight that fed through the clouds. "Didn't have time. Besides, it's too—"

"If you say troublesome, Shikamaru Nara, so help me you'll wish you _had_ been injured on that mission." As her brain began to recover from the panic of thinking he was dead, Ino's relief was giving way to righteous indignation. She moved back toward him, her fists clenching around the collar of his flak jacket until her knuckles turned white. "You just gallivant off on an A-rank mission, giving me less than a day's warning, and then you go and say something like it's too troublesome to send _one_ message? We got a unit of patients at the hospital today, deployed on the same day as your squad, with an A-rank. _Two_ of them died, one before he even arrived, so I didn't even see the report. What was I supposed to think?"

At the mention of the other team, Shikamaru's face clouded over.

"You said two dead?"

"And two in critical care." Ino replied slowly; she paused in her tirade and released her hold on his flak jacket, halted by the strange expression he had suddenly adopted. "Did you…"

"My original deployment." He responded, anticipating her question. "But I received orders from Tsunade-sama not too long after deployment to transfer to another squad that needed a strategist. Since we'd already developed the plans for our own mission, my original squad was able to substitute me with a mid-range fighter from the other unit. The second mission ended today. The team sent me ahead to file the mission report."

"So your team is alright…" Ino shook her head in disbelief, unable to look him straight in the eye. Too many conflicting reactions were warring within her: at the moment, she wasn't sure whether to hug him again or simply hit him.

For lack of a better option, she chose to her standard response.

"…and here I was, worried to death that something had _happened_ to you after I yelled at you!"

"Ino," Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, and the ghost of smile passed over his face, "if this is your way of trying to apologize for the argument, you're doing a damn lousy job."

Ino stared at him, her expression incredulous, but noticing the almost imperceptible signs of weariness in his posture, she decided to let it go. Her rage was gradually subsiding to relief again anyway.

"Baka." She muttered, turning away from him with a flip of her hair. She could practically hear him roll his eyes behind her, and she caught the words "troublesome woman" somewhere in his mumbled complaint. She didn't care; at least the dramatic gesture was enough to hide the shaking in her limbs and the fear shining in her eyes.

She heard him shift behind her, and she turned slightly, ready to counter whatever argument he made, but the words stopped, choked in her throat.

His movement had been to shift closer to her, and his expression was one of such gravity that it unsettled her. Dark, discerning eyes bored into her, seeing too much.

"Shika…" Ino started to back away, unable to handle the intensity of his stare without doing something she was _sure _she would regret later, but Shikamaru stopped her, closing the distance between them. He clasped one hand firmly around her upper arm; the other moved to her cheek, brushing her bangs away from her face where they had been plastered by the flood of tears. In any other circumstances, Ino might have been prompted to think about how horrific she must look, puffy-eyed and exhausted, but the intimacy of the gesture just left her numb.

"I have to report to Tsunade-sama." Shikamaru spoke quietly, his face only centimeters away from hers. "I should have arrived a few hours ago, but I met a few delays on the way, so she'll have been expecting me for a while. I don't even want to think about how troublesome this meeting is going to be."

He grimaced, casting a glance over at the place where the Hokage's office rose above the reconstructed village.

"But after I finish, we'll talk. Okay?"

Ino could only nod. She could feel her heartbeat pounding in her throat and her mouth had suddenly gone dry, rendering her incapable of speech. Not, of course, that she could even make her brain form coherent thoughts at this point…

Shikamaru leaned in closer, and Ino could now clearly see that his expression had resolved itself into a satisfied, if tired, grin. His next words were barely more than a whisper.

"Apology accepted."

With a movement so swift, she was almost sure she imagined it, Shikamaru leaned forward and his lips brushed her forehead. Then he was gone, swallowed up by the shadows.

Ino's hand shook as she brought it up to touch her forehead. Had he just… just…

Heart racing, Ino turned back onto the path to her house.

* * *

><p>The maelstrom of emotions from the previous night had left Ino in shock; she couldn't even recall her head hitting the pillow by the time she woke the next morning. For a moment upon waking, she was consumed by bliss, remembering how the night had ended, but then a cold panic ran through her.<p>

Ino shot up and hurtled downstairs, barely managing to avoid tripping over several steps. She found her father in his normal early-morning haunt, sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea.

"Have you spoken to anyone from the Hokage's office this morning?"

Inoichi looked up calmly, relatively unaffected by his daughter's strange outburst.

"It's only seven, Ino dear." He gestured to the window, where early morning light filtered in through gaps in the curtains. "The Intel division doesn't need me for another hour."

"But you might have heard!" She persisted, rushing toward the table to slam her flat palms against it. "About the squads that returned yesterday?"

Inoichi shrugged, but he set his cup down, beginning to grow concerned at his daughter's panicked insistence. "The only squad I heard about yesterday was the four-man you received at the hospital. Why…"

"I've got to go." Ino interrupted. Leaving her puzzled father sitting at the table, she rushed upstairs and then back downstairs like a bolt of lightning, slamming the front door behind her.

Inoichi stared at the place where his daughter had just been, then shook his head.

It was much too early to try to interpret her peculiar actions. He went back to drinking his tea.

* * *

><p>Ino ran as fast as she could, her eyes scanning for the correct turns. Finally, she just gave up on taking main routes and decided to take a shortcut over the rooftops.<p>

After a few frantic changes of directions, she landed squarely on top of her destination in the Nara estate. She dropped off the roof and, checking to make sure no one was around, slipped into the hallway nearest to the room she needed to access.

The window to the room was dark, and the latch was secured, which she'd expected regardless. Pulling the pin she'd thought to grab out of her hair, she began to work the latch with the skill of a professional.

Over the many years they'd been teammates, this certainly wasn't the first time she'd broken into Shikamaru's room… or even a numbered time that could be properly expressed in only one digit. There had been several instances of mission assignments for which Shikamaru had to be dragged by Ino and Choji – and occasionally even Asuma-sensei as well – to the Hokage's office at ungodly hours. He had never been particularly cooperative on those occasions.

When the manual lock fell away, she concentrated chakra on two of her fingers and disabled the chakra seal she knew was also present, which, when broken, would have tripped an alarm.

The window swung open silently, and Ino climbed up over the sill, trying to avoid trampling on some rather sad-looking morning glories in the process.

Peering into the half-light of the room, she couldn't discern any sign of a sleeping form. Her immediate reaction was fear, and she slowly climbed the rest of the way through, dropping down to crouch silently on the floor below the window.

She crept over to the pallet that was against the wall, expecting to find it folded up and possibly dusty from a couple of weeks of disuse, but something struck her as odd. On closer examination, she saw that the pallet was rumpled and…

She let her hand hover over it. _Still warm_, she realized, _like someone had just slept—_

It took her a moment to realize that she was frozen, her hand suspended over the pallet. Then, her body began to move of its own accord, slowly circling around to face the other side of the room. She took a step forward…

… out of the shadows, another figure moved toward the center of the room.


	17. Rose  Part One: Thorns

Almost as soon as she turned around, the jutsu dropped. Ino sank to the floor, her body shaking slightly. It wasn't the first time Shikamaru had used the Shadow Possession Jutsu on her, but every time it left her limbs slightly numb. She flexed her fingers tentatively, still unsure whether she had full control. It was one thing when she was expecting the jutsu, but when she wasn't… She shivered, trying to rid her body of the last remnants of paralysis.

When she finally looked up, she found a pair of dark eyes staring at her through shadowed lids, as though he hadn't gotten enough sleep. Guilt at the fact that _she_ was probably the one who woke him pushed words out of Ino's mouth.

"Baka, what have I told you about—"

"Ino, what in the hell are you—"

They both stopped; Ino tried to fight the steadily rising blush in her cheeks.

"I was… I mean, I thought…"

"When I said we'd talk, this wasn't what I meant." With a yawn and a stretch, Shikamaru moved to the window to examine the latch. "Troublesome."

He turned back around, crossing his arms and leaning against the sill to regard Ino.

The steady stare unnerved her. "What?"

Shikamaru sighed. "You could have waited until a normal hour, and come to my house and knocked on the door, you know."

Ino averted her gaze.

"Though," he added, "why do something normal when you can break the chakra seal instead?"

Ino really didn't have a good explanation for her behavior—or at least not one that wouldn't cause all kinds of complications—so she just gave a huffy sigh and turned away from him, taking the opportunity to survey the room.

It had been a long time since Ino had seen Shikamaru's room. Even the few times she had glimpsed it, it had only been in passing, to pick up supplies for a mission or to notify him of an emergency meeting. Seeing it now, she found it to be much like she had always imagined the place where Shikamaru lived: clean, minimalistic, designed for utility, not comfort. There was little furniture, and even fewer embellishments.

"Not even any plants…" Ino murmured, shaking her head. She'd kept at least one plant in her room for as long as she could remember.

_Then again_… she considered Shikamaru trying to care for a plant.

Perhaps it was best that he didn't have one.

"What?"

Ino started, not aware that she'd voiced her thoughts, but Shikamaru was looking at her with an expression of slight confusion.

"You need plants." She commented, motioning to the bare dresser and desktop. "It would brighten the place up."

Shikamaru raised a skeptical eyebrow, as if to say 'Can you really imagine me keeping a bunch of troublesome plants?' Ino couldn't suppress a giggle, considering the fact that she already _had _imagined it, and it didn't look pretty.

She turned to smile at him over her shoulder and abruptly, she was struck with an overpowering surge of relief. The sight of his figure at the window, framed against the strains of morning sunlight, alive and healthy, was an image of such normality that for a second she could scarcely believe it was real.

Before she even knew what she was doing, Ino found herself across the room with her arms wrapped snugly around his neck and her face buried in his chest. One of her hands slid to rest just below his shoulder, where she could feel the steady beat of his heart through her palm.

"What's wrong, troublesome woman?" Shikamaru mumbled the question into her hair, but it lacked his usual tone of exasperation.

"I thought you were dead, Shikamaru." She admitted quietly. It was a relief to allow the unvoiced fear to finally slip off her tongue, ridding her head of the burden she'd been carrying for days. The words seemed to break as they left her mouth and hit the air, hanging heavier than any protest or accusation she'd made against him.

"And why would that matter to you?" He replied sarcastically, but he was quickly silenced by a hit to the chest. Ino pulled back from him slightly.

"Don't even say that. You know why."

Shikamaru regarded her with all seriousness. "Do I?"

Ino disentangled herself reluctantly from his arms, turning away to lean against the window sill. "You should. You, genius boy, should have figured it out a long time ago without me having to spell it out for you."

For a few moments, everything was silent, and Ino's stomach churned at the thought of the almost-admission.

For a genius, Shikamaru really could be dense.

She was beginning to turn around to gauge his reaction when a shadow fell over her, and she drew a sharp intake of breath when she realized he was standing mere centimeters from her.

"Ino, I—"

"Shikamaru!" Shikaku's voice sounded outside, loud and disgruntled.

"Damn it." Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair, looking anxiously between Ino and the door. The sound of footsteps down the corridor got steadily louder. "Look, I have something I need to tell you, but I have to take care of this first. Stay here, alright?"

Shikamaru moved like lightning to the door, certainly faster than Ino had ever seen the lazy boy go. She stared after him, slightly dumbfounded. After a few moments frozen in a torrent of emotion, she sunk to the floor, utterly at a loss.

Outside, she could hear Shikamaru's voice occasionally breaking through his father's gruff monotone, but they didn't seem to be getting any closer to the door, so she assumed she was safe for now. She could only imagine what her father would say after her abrupt departure from the house this morning and there was no way that her being here would escape his knowledge if Shikaku found out.

Rather than running that unpleasant scenario over in her head, Ino focused on Shikamaru's last words. Had something he needed to tell her? Maybe it was about that odd meeting with Inoichi a few weeks ago that they still hadn't gotten around to discussing.

Ino looked down at her hands, suddenly aware that she was twisting the fabric of a flak jacket back and forth around her palms in agitation. She set it down as soon as she recognized the nervous habit, but her attention had been drawn away from her worry enough that she noticed the unusual sound the flak jacket made when it hit the ground.

It wasn't the metallic clink of a weapon, or even the slightly muffled thump of a scroll. Ino made a vain attempt to convince herself that it wasn't any of her business, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she picked the flak jacket back up, feeling the pockets for the source of the strange noise. Most of them were empty, but when she checked one of the pockets sewn into the inside, her fingers came across something solid.

Pulling the object out, she opened her hand to find a small, square box, and her breath caught, because she recognized the shape immediately.

She knew already that she had gone much too far, that it really wasn't any of her business, but her hands seemed to be somewhere out of her mind's control, and the box sprung open, revealing exactly what she had anticipated.

Only, the realization was ten times worse, because it was _beautiful_.

The ring was gold, with delicate etchings of what looked to be interwoven rose vines around the inside of the band. The stone itself… that was what made her heart drop. Because though Ino was no expert in gemstones, she knew exactly what kind of stone it was that graced that beautiful, intricate setting:

_Desert_ quartz.

Ino bit down on her lip so hard that she feared the skin might break. She closed the box, shoving it back into the pocket, all the while cursing herself for being so goddamn _meddlesome_.

She now had a fairly good idea of what it was that Shikamaru needed to tell her.

In a flash, a conversation in the flower shop that had once meant hope to her was twisted, and she saw how completely wrong her interpretation had been. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to believe that Temari's accusations might be _true_.

"_Why else would I get invited to the wedding, only to have him tell me that a long distance relationship is 'too troublesome'?"_

"Shikamaru, you sly bastard…" She fumbled angrily with the newly repaired latch; fortunately, he hadn't had the time to reactivate the chakra seal so it sprang open easily. Not even caring if someone saw, Ino jumped out of the window and traveled as fast as she could, away from that house and that ring and that stupid, _stupid_ bastard.

A long-distance relationship apparently _was _too troublesome, so it was being made into a short-distance one.

As she thought through it, Ino realized that the ring explained other things as well. As the head of the Intelligence division, her father had to be involved when anyone with knowledge of Konoha's defenses left for an extended period of time, or when anyone from an outside village entered Konoha.

Ino didn't care to consider whether this meant Shikamaru leaving or Temari coming. She couldn't make herself think about the situation, about Temari's apparent obliviousness to what had actually been going on, about Shikamaru's reluctance to talk about the conversation with her father, about her own blindness to a plan which had been going on behind her back for all this time.

All she knew was that she had been a complete fool, and now she had to deal with the consequences.

* * *

><p>When Shikamaru returned half an hour later, he knew immediately that something was wrong.<p>

Ino, impatient though she may have been, was not one to just get up and leave in the middle of a conversation, _especially_ not one as important as this. For a second, Shikamaru considered the idea that it might be a trick, but then he spotted the open window, and he knew she was really gone.

He ran to the window, almost tripping over his flak jacket in the process. It took a few moments of staring out the window to realize that the jacket was _not_ where he had left it…

… which could mean only one thing.

The pieces clicked together in Shikamaru's head as he rummaged through the pockets and, not finding the ring in the one he'd left it in, checked the one on the other side. Sure enough, one ring box, complete with engagement ring, lay in the other pocket.

"Troublesome, nosy woman…"

This was going to be one hell of an explanation.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Ino and Shikamaru never can seem to have a whole, uninterrupted conversation... XD_

_Bit of a short chapter, but it's part one of two, so fear not! Plus, I actually managed to get this update done fairly quickly! ^_^_

_As usual, thank you to all my readers and reviewers! Since I'm not sure when I'll get my next chapter out, I'll go ahead wish you all a very happy holiday (whichever one you happen to celebrate) and a wonderful New Year!_

_- Senka_


	18. Rose  Part Two: Buds

Ino was numb. She couldn't cry… couldn't even form a coherent thought through the haze that had enveloped her mind. Instead, she resigned herself to walking in endless circles around the garden path, inhaling the heady scent of hundreds of blooming buds. At least that clouded her head with something other than the images of that _ring_.

She knew it had been stupid. To assume that one impulsive kiss had meant as much to him as it had to her was simply catering to her own desires. The more she thought about it, the more her head began to wrap around the idea that this whole thing had just been a product of her deranged, overactive imagination; that every little signal, every subtle sign she'd read from his actions had been merely a normal response, and _she_ was the one straining to make it extraordinary.

With that rationalization established in her mind, the next order of business was how to handle it. Obviously, she had overreacted far too many times over the past few months for it to be anywhere near normal behavior and that was merely to the casual observer. For Shikamaru, analytical genius that he was, her mood swings probably resembled the first signs of insanity, and there would be no easy way to just explain that away.

In her mind, there were really just two options: the first was to throw herself into every mission that came her way and deny the whole thing had ever happened, slowly and painfully separating herself from the idea. The other was to come clean about all of her actions.

Given Ino's ability to handle confrontations… just one option after all.

"You really shouldn't snoop through other people's things, you know."

His sudden appearance startled her, but she at least tried to act as though his presence didn't faze her. She didn't break stride in her circuit, acting as though he hadn't said anything at all.

It was better if he just wasn't there. Then she wouldn't have to worry about tears or screaming or whatever response happened to explode from her the moment she let herself acknowledge his existence. Then she wouldn't have to worry about consequences. She seemed to be good at ignoring consequences lately.

"If I could explain—" Shikamaru began.

"Really, Shikamaru? Can you really?" Ino swung around, stopping in mid-stride. Her tone was anything but level and controlled.

Ignoring him seemed to work just about as well as any previous attempts to control her emotions had gone.

"I'm supposed to bring the ring to Temari…" he continued with a sigh of exasperation.

"Oh, I'm sure you are!" Ino interjected, immediately jumping to the defensive. She broke her away from her circular path and marched straight over to where he had propped himself against a tree, stopping mere feet in front of him. He didn't shrink away from her as she advanced, merely watched her with his infuriatingly impassive dark eyes.

"I'm sure you're just dying to give her that ring. Well, you know what? I hope you're damn happy, Shikamaru. I hope you're happy with your stupid average wife and two stupid kids and whatever the hell else you decide to do with your stupid life…"

By this time, the tears had surfaced, flowing freely down her cheeks and into her hair, burning red-hot trails across her skin. She realized how utterly ridiculous and childish she sounded even as the words were leaving her mouth, but they bubbled out anyway, an unceasing flow of rage that poured over her lips and left her scorching.

"…and I hope you like Suna and you had better be moving there, because I sure as hell don't need to see you… _ever_… _again_…" With each word, she emphasized it as though it were a physical affront, but finally the sobs broke through her words, rendering them incoherent, so she settled on actually hitting him as hard as the limited coordination brought on by her heightened emotional state would allow.

After a few seconds of taking the blows as stoically as possible, Shikamaru caught her fists, but she managed to struggle out of his grip and started to bolt. Her rage was rapidly beginning to fail her, so the only real choice was to run. She was a few feet away from getting out of the garden when her entire body seized up and froze.

For the second time that day, she was caught in a Shadow Possession Jutsu.

"Goddamn, woman, is this the only way I can manage to get two words in edgewise?"

Ino ran through every expletive she could think of in her head, but her jaw remained clamped shut, frozen like the rest of her body.

That was twice today, _twice _that he had broken the unspoken agreement between them. Ever since they had been placed on the same team as genin, Shikamaru and Ino had developed a mutual understanding that under only the direst circumstances were their signature jutsu to be used on one another. It was an invasion of privacy, the likes of which was unfathomable to both of them. Shikamaru had always been the one who protected her body during the mind-transfer jutsu. For him to take control of it this way just made her feel hollow and vulnerable, like everything their relationship had been built upon was an easily-ignorable truth.

He must have seen the accusation in her eyes, because he frowned noticeably, stepping forward out of the dappled shade of the tree and into the full sunlight of the path.

"I don't like doing this anymore than you like being forced into silence, but you refuse to listen to me any other way." He stepped forward until they were a few feet away again, and he regarded her with earnest consideration. "If I release it, will you listen?"

The paralysis receded slightly, and Ino had control of her head again. Still, she took a moment before she responded, her expression guarded.

"I'm listening."

The jutsu fell away all at once, but Shikamaru waited a few moments before he began, just to make sure she wasn't about to bolt again. But if Ino had done everything else wrong today, she at least refused to make a liar out of herself, so she stayed.

"That troublesome ring," he began again, "is not _from_ me, and it's not _for_ Temari."

That in itself gave Ino pause, and she bit her lip, increasingly coming to the realization that her actions were even more ridiculous than she had originally supposed.

"I'm bringing it _to _Temari, for someone else entirely. As for who, you're just going to have to believe me, because it's a mission and I'm not at liberty to say."

Ino's stomach dropped a little.

"As for what possessed you to break into my house at ridiculous hours this morning…"

"I had to make sure…!" Ino blurted, but she quickly clamped her hand over her mouth, her red-rimmed eyes going wide.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. He had walked back toward the part of the garden that housed the bench and was now sitting down. He gestured for Ino to follow. "Make sure of what?"

Ino chose her words carefully. "Make sure that you… weren't… leaving."

She stopped inches from the bench, her arms folded up defensively in front of her, watching as Shikamaru processed her words, finally settling on an expression of obvious bemusement. Then it cleared, and he nodded to the seat next to him.

"You wanted me to talk, so now you're going to hear it." He said decisively. "Sit."

Ino did as she was told, too flabbergasted by how serious he had suddenly become to even bother to protest.

"It's best if I start this story where it actually begins, so here goes. And no interruptions, alright? This is troublesome enough as it is."

Ino nodded.

He began to speak.

_It starts with a boy, who some called a genius, but all he ever wanted was to live a quiet life, staring up at the sky. A life where no one got hurt and he didn't have to be responsible for anything or anyone. But no one can live that way, especially not when you're the son of an overbearing mother, and…_

Ino had started giggling, but Shikamaru shot her a look, and she clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Sorry." She whispered. He just shook his head.

…_and he decided to become a shinobi, because as much as he wanted to live a quiet life all on his own, he had people that he cared about and needed to protect. So he became a shinobi, and that only made him find more troublesome people he wanted to protect, but some of those he couldn't. So he decided to live toward simple goals: an average wife and two kids, a death that was quiet and painless, because he couldn't hope for anything extraordinary, because for a shinobi, getting an ordinary life _is_ extraordinary. _

_So, with the hundred thoughts that were constantly flying through his head, he tried not to think too much about something happening to the people he cared about, because he couldn't bear to. And some of them he kept at a distance, because they didn't fit into his mold of the ordinary, and he couldn't quite make himself believe that there was anything more than ordinary in store for him. _

_But then, some troublesome woman had to keep coming into his life: being assigned to his team, asking him to care for her when she couldn't care for herself, understanding the pain of losing a teacher… becoming one of his closest friends, even if she was troublesome. He thought he could keep it that way, but for all of his strategic planning, if there was one thing he always underestimated, it was her ability to deliver a shot completely out of the blue. _

_Because she kissed him, and for once, the genius who had a plan for everything was completely at a loss for what to do. And this wasn't one of those problems that could be solved in an instant. For once, every scenario that his brain ran through just didn't fit, so by the time he'd even processed it, it was past and matters of rebuilding a village and a life after war had to be dealt with. _

_He thought he could forget about it, but she kept showing up in his life, sometimes seeming like he was the last person she wanted to see, but sometimes… he could glimpse behind her emotions and her impulses. See that her reasons were just as complex as his, sometimes even more so. And every time he found his vision of ordinary slipping away by leaps and bounds. He almost admitted that he loved her at someone else's wedding, but she didn't see, and his own complications got in the way. But eventually he realized that there was no getting away from this: every strategy he'd run in his head… it all ended up in the same place._

Shikamaru stopped, and from under the collar of his shirt, he pulled a cord of leather that ended in a small drawstring bag, the kind that the ANBU often used to carry poison. He fiddled with the ties as he spoke.

"Honestly, Ino. If you were going to draw conclusions from a ring, you should have known better than to think that I'd be so careless with the ring I was going to use to propose. If I were going to do something so troublesome, I'd keep it on me at all times."

He had succeeded in opening the bag, and something silver fell into his hand, glinting in the morning sunlight. Ino bit back a squeak.

"Besides, if I was planning to leave Konoha," Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, looking up at her with a wry grin. "Why would I have gone to the trouble of talking to your father about this?"

* * *

><p><em>AN: So, so, _so_ sorry about how late this is. Writer's block has been terrible recently, and I hadn't been able to write this scene without it coming out... terribly to say the least. However, I finally got the idea today for how it needed to go, and voila! _

_As you've probably noticed, we are nearing the end of this story. Two more chapters or so, and Shadows will have reached its conclusion. I appreciate so greatly every review, favorite and alert I've received, and I hope you all enjoy these last few chapters. _

_- Senka Hitomi_


	19. Lily Reprise

She sat in the garden, her hands clasped around a bouquet of lilies that had been tied with a silver ribbon. She stared at the flowers for a while, tracing her fingers along the curve of the petals down to the intricate knots of the ribbon, occasionally rearranging the leaves. They had to look perfect; designing flower arrangements was a complicated task, but Ino Yamanaka was not going to settle for anything but the best.

"What are you still doing here?"

She turned at the familiar voice, smiling unconsciously. His shadow came into view before he did and as he turned the corner, she almost could have sworn he was a different person, dressed so formally. There was barely a trace of the disheveled, nonchalant boy she had known her entire life. _He looked_… the corners of her mouth twisted despite herself… _ridiculously handsome_. Not that he wasn't anyway. She turned her head slightly to hide the blush that had suddenly sprung to her cheeks.

"Just putting the finishing touches on these floral…" She stopped mid-sentence, her head snapping back up as she realized something. "What am _I _doing here? I think I should be asking that to _you_!"

She sprang to her feet, setting the bouquet aside as she moved toward him. Around her ankles, her skirt rippled like eddies in still water and she had to brush her hair behind her ear to keep it from flying in her face. When she saw that his expression had changed to that of someone completely transfixed, she paused, examining her dress self-consciously.

"What? What is it? Is it wrinkled or something?"

The corners of his mouth twitched, and he failed to hold back the lazy grin that spread across his face.

"You…" He shook his head, but his eyes didn't lose the sudden light that had filled them.

"I what?" She closed the last few steps between them, putting her hands on her hips indignantly as she probed his face for answers. "_You're_ not supposed to be here, and you know it."

He shrugged, and she saw his shoulders tense slightly. "I know. Just making sure that you still… well…"

He trailed off, his expression suddenly fraught with uncertainty.

"Shikamaru." Ino grabbed his hands forcefully and held them until he looked her in the eye. With his dark eyes locked onto hers, she couldn't help but smile.

"Baka." She whispered. "What do you think?"

She only hesitated for a split second, an old fear kindling like a flame in the pit of her stomach, only to be quashed a moment later when his hand moved to cradle her cheek. Smiling, she kissed him.

That strange intensity was still present, the same as the first time they'd kissed, but this time, there was no fear, only the realization that she would be this happy kissing him in every moment that remained to them in their lives. And when she finally pulled away this time, she didn't feel the need to run.

He stared down at her, and for once, behind all the whirring calculations that were always reflected in his gaze, Ino was fairly certain that she really understood him.

"So."

"So."

They both let out a laugh, hers light and melodic, his breathy and nervous.

"I should get back. Some troublesome event I have to be present for." He raised an eyebrow at her and she swatted his arm gently. He turned back to look at her once, and she gestured him forward, because she was fairly certain if he didn't go now, she'd never be able to let him leave. With one last unguarded smile exchanged between them, they parted ways.

As he disappeared from view, the shadows of the leaves fell across his back, filtered green and gold by the intensity of the sun. Ino watched him go, her stomach knotting, but for once, she knew that this was right.

Their future as shinobi of Konoha was uncertain, and it always would be, but now more than ever, as she stood in the garden she'd known since she was just a toddler, wearing the dress she would be married in mere moments, Ino Yamanaka knew one thing with absolute certainty: that the boy who had always caught and protected her would be there until the very last moment, whenever it came. And she would do the same for him, whatever the cost.

With one last glance at the garden, she followed the path he had taken, out of the shadows and into the brilliant light of the day.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Oh my goodness. It's actually done. I worked with a few different ideas for the ending, but in the end, this was the one that really fit._

_I sincerely hope that you all have enjoyed reading this. It's been my pleasure to write and then to read all of your reactions to my work. Since this is the last chapter, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ending and the story in general - favorite chapters, scenes you liked - any thoughts you have, I'd really enjoy knowing what they are. _

_Also, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank my part-time beta Wroathe. Without her invaluable help, I would absolutely never have gotten some of those middle chapters done and looking decent. _

_As a last note, I pose a question to you all. I've been running a poll on my profile recently asking about an original Ino-Shika-Cho squad story I've been working on, and I've thought about posting a little preview chapter at the end of this story, just to see what you all think and gauge the interest it might generate. If you'd like to see me add it on, please say so in your review, and I'll definitely try to do that! _

_Thank you so very much for reading._

_- Senka Hitomi_


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